Humanitarian Data Exchange FAQs

The full FAQ can be viewed on the HDX website. Excerpt of FAQ related to data practices:


How do I share data on HDX?

Data on HDX is shared through organisations. You need to be a member of an organisation (with appropriate privileges) before you can contribute data. If you have data to share, you can either request to create a new organisation or ask to join an existing one. (See more under Organisations.)


What if my data is sensitive?

You can publish your dataset's metadata on HDX without including the actual data. This enables people to find out about the existence of your data. They are then able to request access to it in HDX and you will be notified of any requests by email. Control of access is entirely within your hands and no sensitive data is stored on HDX during this process.


Can I share data privately with my organisation's members?

Yes. For each dataset that you create, you have a choice of sharing data publicly, sharing only metadata publicly or restricting access to other members of the same organisation. The default visibility is set to private when you upload a new dataset. We encourage the open sharing of data, but we recognize that some data may not be suitable for public release in which case you can publish only metadata so that people can find and request your data. For fully restricted access (which we discourage), you can make your dataset and its metadata private so that only members of your organization can see it.


What is the difference between a dataset and a resource?

A dataset is a collection of related data resources. A resource is an individual file within a dataset. When sharing data, you first create a dataset and then you can add one or more resources to it. A resource can either be a file uploaded to HDX (such as a CSV or XLS file) or a link to another website with a downloadable file. A resource, such as a readme file, could also contain documentation that helps users to understand the dataset, such as a readme file.


How do I add a dataset?

Click on the 'Add Data' button from any page on HDX. You will be required to login and associate yourself with an organisation. These slides provide a walk-through of how to add a dataset. Here are more details on the 'update frequency' field.


How do I edit a dataset?

You can only edit a dataset if you are an administrator or editor of your organisation. If you have the appropriate role, you will find an 'Edit' button just below the dataset description. This will allow you to edit the dataset metadata and the resources. These slides provide a walk-through of how to edit a dataset.


How can I add graphs and key figures to my dataset?

If your data uses the HXL standard, then HDX can automatically create customizable graphs and key figures to help you highlight the most important aspects of your dataset. We call these "Quick Charts". For a Quick Chart to be generated, your dataset needs to be public and contain a CSV or XLSX resource with HXL tags. HXL is easy! Check out the 30-second tutorial.

The resource can be stored on HDX or as a remote resource at another URL. Quick Charts will be generated from the first resource with HXL tags in the list of a dataset's resources. The system will try to generate up to three charts based on the HXL tags, and these can be changed to best tell the story in your data. You can edit each Quick Chart's title, axis labels, and description. Don't forget to save the changes so they become the default view that users see when viewing your dataset. Here's a good example to get you started.

Quick Charts doesn't work with all HXL tags, but we're working to expand its capabilities and your feedback is welcome at hdx.feedback@gmail.com.


What are the recommended data formats?

We define data as information that software can read and analyse. We encourage contributions in any common data format. HDX has built-in preview support for tabular data in CSV and Microsoft Excel (xls only) formats, and for geographic data in zipped shapefile, kml and geojson formats.

A PDF file is not data. If you have a data visualization in PDF format, you can add it as a gallery item on the dataset page. If you wish to share documents, graphics, or other types of humanitarian information that are not related to the data you are sharing, please visit our companion sites ReliefWeb and HumanitarianResponse. A resource, such as a readme file, could also contain documentation that helps users to understand the dataset.


What are the recommended best practices for naming datasets and resources?

For datasets: the keywords in your dataset title are matched to the search terms users enter when looking for data in HDX. Avoid using abbreviations in the title that users may not be familiar with. Also avoid using words such as current, latest or previous when referring to the time period (e.g., latest 3W), as these terms become misleading as the dataset ages. The following is a good example of a dataset title: 'Who is Doing What Where in Afghanistan, Dec 2016'.

For resources: by default, the resource name is the name of the uploaded file. However, you can change this if needed to make it more clear to users. 

For zipped shapefiles: we recommend the filename be name_of_the_file.shp.zip. However, the system does not require this construction.