It’s hard to pinpoint the moment when my interest in Open Data first came into being. My work on collaboration technology here at the City must have sparked it, as I started to really appreciate the incredible capacity, creativity and value of both the global and local community. So what does this have to do with government or Open Data? To explain that, I’ll have to set aside the story for a moment.
What Open Data ultimately boils down to is information, which is why we collect data in the first place. Yes, I realize, there’s lots of information available through Edmonton.ca, 311, and maybe even this blog, but it’s not just about the city telling you things, it’s about enabling the community to decide on the what and where of that information:
- What information I want: Maybe you simply want to know how long until the next bus arrives without having to examine a schedule, or what the councillors’ votes were on decisions x, y and z. Maybe you want to know if there’s a pattern in the number or types of trees a neighbourhood has and surrounding property values. The possibilities are infinite, and the city’s resources are not.
- Where I want to access it: Wouldn’t it be swell if you could just use the map tool you’re already familiar with to plan your bus trip, or one that already has other features like the ability to search for businesses (you can, thanks to this data). Maybe you want to see road construction projects, or traffic alerts live on your car’s navigation system. The city doesn’t make the software for your car’s navigation, but could we enable those who do? (yes). But will they make use of it? Only if it will help sell for navigation systems, so it’s up to you: their customers.
So how does Open Data achieve this? It does so through the community I mentioned earlier, through academia and through private corporations as small as local Grayscale Apps and as large as Google.
Data is not just for computer programmers either. Tools like Yahoo Pipes, and Intel Mash Maker are working hard to make it easier for anyone to create useful visualizations and applications out of online data. It’s also incredibly easy to display geographic data layered on top of Google Maps.
What Open Data is not about is revealing private information or replacing public information sources with commercial ones. The transit data hasn’t replaced the city’s own Trip Planner, it has simply opened the doors for anyone, not just government, to create new, different, or more convenient ways of accessing bus information. In fact, for the most part, Open Data is not even about revealing all that much new information, most of it can already be accessed in some form if you’re willing to fill in enough forms, navigate enough bureaucracy, search the website, or call 311, but these are just the channels that government has envisioned and created, designed to be reachable by as much of the population as possible, but not necessarily exactly what everyone wanted from it or where they want it.
As for the rest of my story, as I began to see and imagine the possibilities: better access to information about your city, more transparency around government operations and decisions, and the ability for citizens to see and use the same information we use for those decisions, I grew more and more excited at the prospect of being a part of this growing movement here in the City of Edmonton. Momentum is already building: discussions at ChangeCamp, Don Iveson’s council inquiry, a workshop on the subject, chats over beer after work, lots of twittering, and even a blog post.
For other examples of Open Data in municipal government, check out: Vancouver, Toronto, Nanaimo, D.C., New York, San Francisco and others all over the world and at all levels of government. One of the great things about Open Data is the way in which the sum is greater than the parts: each city that opens their data bring more value to all of the other cities. Google Transit didn’t start in Edmonton, but we benefit from it. MyStops did start in Edmonton, and yet many other cities now benefit. Other innovative tools await as we work towards opening the data they are based on.
Oh, and sorry Robert, beer sharing is still an app-free activity, but with the right data, there is one that can help you get safely home afterwards.