Opening Up: The Challenges and Opportunities with Open Data

June 19, 2012

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E-Gov and Open Gov…What’s the difference?

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The Evolution to Open The Evolution to Open GovernmentGovernment

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What is Open Government?

• Open Government reflects a commitment to open, accountable and transparent government practices. “Open Data, Open Information, Open Dialogue”

• It is founded on democratic principals and The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LAFOIP).

• Emphasis on citizen engagement and participation.• The City’s Freedom of Information Process, use of

social media, regina.ca and even designregina.ca are all examples of open government practices.

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Flickr (crowdsourcing)

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Skype (Alternative Service Delivery)

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Follow us on Facebook / Twitter and YouTube                               

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What is Open Data??

When a government institution posts internal data sets, in a machine-readable format, for free public consumption.

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Objectives:

1. Increase internal efficiency by reducing duplication and allowing for enhanced information sharing across departments.

2. Demonstrate leadership in public transparency and accountability.

3. Encourage citizen engagement and participation in municipal government through knowledge sharing.

4. Drive innovation in Regina with easy, self-serve access to information commonly used by application developers and businesses to provide enhanced citizen experiences.

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City of Regina’s Open Data Journey• Internal Survey for ‘readiness’ to move to Open Data

• large majority response … Open Data is a good thing• many of our data sets ready to go.

• Talked to other cities (Ottawa, Vancouver, North District of Vancouver, Edmonton) with various approaches but similarities:• get something out there and build from it• ensure commitment from business areas to maintain data before

posting• technology started with was Microsoft’s Open Government Data

Initiative (OGDI)

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Data – Good, Bad, & Ugly• Good:

• GIS data sets in multiple formats (CSV, SHP, KML)• Data existed in all formats with maintenance processes already

in place• Quick start!

• Bad:• Data ready-to-go was not the most popular internally or

externally.

• Ugly:• Some ready-to-go data was not actually ready-to-go.• All the City’s data inaccuracies are now out there for all to see.

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Technology – Good, Bad, & Ugly

• Good:• Contacts with other cities, Microsoft offer to help• OGDI - open source & pay-as-you go service• Quick start!

• Bad:• Microsoft OGDI ‘out-of-the-box’ does not handle SHP files.

• Ugly:• Customization we had not expected• Need to purchase SAFE software’s FME tool to upload SHP

to OGDI

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Data Portal - what now?• Adding ‘popular’ & requested datasets as part of regular refreshes.

• Tweaking for performance, fixing some of the bugs

• Exploring other Portal toolkits

• Exploring the expansion of the Open Data portal to include other formats such as PDF documents, DWG and web mapping services (WMS)

• Ongoing engagement with external stakeholders to continuously improve the City’s Open Data Portal.

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What is a Hackathon and App Development?

• One-day events for application developers and those interested in open data

• Builds on open data that’s available• Opportunity to “mash” with other data• Creates innovative ideas for how to serve

citizens and new ways of using information

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Other Opportunities

• Application development• ReCollect – Collection Reminder Service• Ottawa Fun – Explore the City• HBus – Plan Your Trip (Halifax Metro)

• City Forward - They store city data & make it available for other cities to use free of charge. It is often used by city planners to obtain info about what other cities are doing.

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Questions??

Alyssa Daku

Manager, Corporate Information Governance

Twitter: @AlyssaDaku

Email: adaku@regina.ca

Andrea Weston

GIS Coordinator

Email: aweston@regina.ca