Enabling a Unified View of Open Data Catalogs

In this article we present a solution, called DataCollector, which allows the cataloging and the discovery of data distributed in multiple open data portals. Our solution collects metadata about datasets available in multiple open data portals and it offers a uniform interface to access them. The proposed solution was evaluated by its viability in cataloging 14 Brazilian open data portals, covering a total of 29,540 datasets. The preliminary results indicate the DataCollector offers a robust solution for cataloging and access to distributed datasets in multiple platforms for open data publication.