Open Sessions
The free, easy way for providers to promote physical activity sessions as open data
What we help to solve
Many local, community-based providers want to be able to open their opportunity data as part of the OpenActive initiative. However, often these providers don’t have the resources to pay for commercially available software that will allow them to publish their activities as open data. If this isn’t addressed, these community providers will be left without a means to reap the benefits of open data in the sector.
How we solve it
Open Sessions is a free to use tool for providers to easily upload and update their session details, and converting that into open opportunity data in order to make those sessions visible to thousands of potential participants across the best sports, fitness and health-focussed websites on the web.
It is important to note that Open Sessions is designed to be a free to use, basic tool - it does not enable online bookings or payments, or other sophisticated management features - there are numerous commercial products on the market that are available if these features are required.
What we offer
Open Sessions is funded by London Sport and developed in partnership with imin. It is designed to be a basic tool that meets the needs of community providers who cannot afford commercial available products. The codebase behind Open Sessions is also open source - which means that any organisation can get develop it further, either for their own commercial products or for the good of the sector.
Open Sessions is designed and built with OpenActive standards front of mind, and encourages providers to add information to each session that will enable potential participants to more easily make a choice when looking through lots of sessions, such as rich information about meeting locations, what equipment to bring, and photos of the activity.
You can access Open Sessions here. That's all there is to it, no contracts to sign- starting using it today!
Who is this product aimed at?
It is designed for any provider to use who aren’t already using an online booking system or digital session management tool. If an online system is already in use, we would encourage the opening of opportunity from that system instead, rather than duplicating the upload of information.
What we're looking for
The product is open and available for any public or private organisation to use to promote to their network of providers.
Please let us know any feedback you have whilst using the product!
Data we use
Information about physical activity sessions uploaded by providers.
Data we create
Open Sessions creates open opportunity data as per the OpenActive specifications.
Who we work with
Open Sessions is in use by numerous County Sports Partnerships and Local Authorities across the UK. As of July 2017, there were 1230 sessions published via the product.
Plays well with
Open Sessions providers open opportunity data for anyone to use. As it stands, imin is the main user of this open data, providing it on to consumer facing websites such as Get Active London and Get Active Essex.
Why you should work with us
Open Sessions is a product that has evolved over time alongside the OpenActive initiative. It is not-for-profit and open source, so has no bias towards any specific area, region or organisation. It was built to fill a gap in the market for those providers who could not afford a commercial system.
