According to a survey from the China Software Test Center (CSTC) under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the operation and management of governmental websites across the nation show substantial improvement, with more open data sharing and diversified services.

Among the 903 national and local governmental websites assessed in the survey, more than 30 percent of websites offer open data and data applications.

Meanwhile, integrated service is progressing with diversified services available through Weibo, WeChat, various applications, and third-party platforms.

Releasing the huge value of governmental data is the main task for construction of governmental websites.

The survey shows that about 25 percent of department websites and 32 percent of provincial and city sites have set up special channels or independent platforms for data publication, covering macro-economy, traffic, healthcare, and other sectors.

In November last year, the Ministry of Transport worked with Baidu to launch the open cloud platform on comprehensive traffic big data, providing related data on traffic in different provinces for the public.

Despite the current progress, ways to standardize the data, balance between publication and confidentiality, and information security protection should be further clarified, said Lv Yanbin, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Lv said different new media channels and third-party platforms can offer diversified ways to increase communication for governmental websites, and attract more public attention, for real-time and accurate governmental services.

Integrating service modes to meet different public demands is the future direction of governmental websites, said Zhou Liang, assistant director of CSTC.