How does open data and open software relate?
At a recent event I was told that open data is independent from open software. While that at the first moment seems to be true, on a second thought it gets far more complicated.
Yes, you can have open data in an open data format and load it into a proprietary software. You can work with the data. And then you may or may not be able to get your results out of it again. It is not up to you, it is up to the software. It may decide that export is only possible to closed data formats. Which means that you entered a dead end, or cul-de-sac like they say here in Ireland.
Using open software, there should not be such a dead end. Open software depends on open data formats (because closed data formats are not free, may have to be reversed-engineered from documents which means that they are not complete, can be changed from one day to another by the owner, etc). And even if a piece of open software does not offer data export possibilities, no one can restrict you from having a look at the source code and write an exporter himself.
So, yes, open data is possible without open source, but it is a dead end. And what use is open data if it can not be used to publish new insights?