{"id":1731,"slug":"datagov-launched-may-2009-47-datasets","title":"data.gov launched May 21, 2009 with 47 datasets — now 370,000+ (with >2,000 removed Jan 2025)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","dev","candid-team"],"topics":["open-data","web-tech-history"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** **data.gov** launched **May 21, 2009** (impetus: January 2009 Obama Transparency memo) with **47 datasets**, now **over 370,000** per Wikipedia's Data.gov entry: *\"Data.gov has grown from 47 datasets at launch to over 370,000 datasets.\"* By end of 2010 most federal agencies had published. **OPEN Government Data Act (2018/2019)** made the catalog a statutory mandate.\n\n**Source:** data.gov; Wikipedia; Obama WH archive.\n\n**Confidence:** Verified.\n\n**Caveat:** Per the same Wikipedia source, **>2,000 datasets were removed January 2025**. The catalog is statutory but not immune to administration-level pruning.\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Anchor on the data-driver timeline. The 47→370k growth is the single cleanest \"data went from licensed to free\" number in the brief.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"chartjs-and-highcharts-free-commercial-charting","title":"Chart.js (MIT, free) and Highcharts (free non-commercial, ~$590+ commercial) — higher-level charting layer","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"gps-civilian-1983-noaa-weather-1970s","title":"GPS opened for civilian use after KAL 007 (1983); NOAA began releasing weather data in the 1970s — McKinsey cites both as top open-data economic impact","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-falling-cost-floor-real-web-functionality-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: the falling cost floor of \"real\" web functionality for SMBs (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"nws-weather-api-free-no-key","title":"NWS/NOAA api.weather.gov — free public REST/JSON API, no key, no registration, no rate-limit account","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"timeline-three-drivers-converge-2004-2014","title":"Timeline 2004–2014: the decade when each of the three historically-expensive parts independently got cheap","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-three-drivers-decade-2004-2014-not-ai","title":"R1 — Anchor the falling-cost case on the decade 2004–2014 (infrastructure + parts + data); AI-assisted coding is NOT the spine","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:00.610Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:00.610Z"}