A method of publishing structured data on the web so that it can be interlinked with other datasets using standard web technologies and URIs.
Linked Data uses HTTP URIs as identifiers for real-world things (not just web pages), so that when someone looks up a URI they get useful data back. It uses RDF (Resource Description Framework) to express relationships between things, and links to other datasets to provide context.
Linked Data is the foundation of the Semantic Web and the five-star open data model's highest level. It enables machines to follow links between datasets automatically, discovering connections that would otherwise require manual integration.
Example: A government dataset about municipalities uses a URI for each municipality. Another dataset about schools links to those same municipality URIs. A third dataset about hospitals does the same. A query can now automatically traverse all three datasets to answer questions like "how many schools and hospitals are in each municipality?"