"... The compilation author typically chooses which facts to include, in what
order to place them, and how to arrange the collected data so that they may be
used effectively by readers. These choices as to selection and arrangement, so
long as they are made independently by the compiler and entail a minimal degree
of creativity, are sufficiently original that Congress may protect such
compilations through the copyright laws. Nimmer ss 2.11[D], 3.03; Denicola 523,
n. 38. Thus, even a directory that contains absolutely no protectible written
expression, only facts, meets the constitutional minimum for copyright
protection if it features an original selection or arrangement ..."

Publishers are certainly aware of this, and will take PD data and, indeed,
organize it in a way which makes such data easier to use, on account of the
relationship of the data presented in the derivative work.

A friend made a very lucritive business out of taking raw census data,
obtainable on magnetic tape by anyone for a nominal duplicating charge,
operating on that data by rearranging it in certain sequences, and outputting
another magnetic tape which contained much if not all of the original data, but
in the new format.

The "originality" is in the format, not in the raw content.