As Open Data initiatives continue to grow across Japan, the volume and diversity of public datasets are increasing rapidly. Many municipalities now operate their own data catalogs and are working toward greater accessibility and transparency. However, once Open Data enters everyday operation, a set of common global challenges emerges:
- Inconsistent structures and formats
- Maintenance and updates relying on individual effort
- Difficulty coordinating across departments
- Limited connection between catalogs and databases
- Data that is published but not easily consumable by systems or applications
These issues are not shortcomings of any single organization—they reflect the broader operational challenges faced by Open Data worldwide. Data can be published, but sustaining, organizing, and integrating it remains difficult.

This talk reframes Open Data through the lens of operations rather than publishing and introduces the role of Re:Earth CMS:
an open-source, multi-user, model-based, schema-driven tool designed to support lightweight, sustainable, and integrable data operations.

By enabling structured datasets, collaborative editing, and API-ready outputs, Re:Earth CMS helps bridge the gap between Open Data catalogs and real-world digital applications, including urban systems, visualization tools, and civic technology.

We hope this session offers a new perspective on what it means to “operate” Open Data and how we can collectively move from publishing files to managing data as a continuous practice.