Description
Manchester
Open Data Innovation (ODI) Ecology
The release of data sets
in an Open Data environment offers new and innovative ways that allow people to
access and interact with services. The regularly updated and accessible police
reports released by the City of Oakland Police Department, California US
coupled with freely available Open Street Map data and the creative digital
sector created what is considered a tour de force of civic information design.
Oakland Crime Spotting by San Francisco creative agency Stamen is a website
that allows people to track crimes based on type, time and location,
visualising data that has a direct impact on quality of life and enabling
people to make informed decisions based on data rather than news report and
rumour. The ODI triple of available Open Civic Data, Open Mapping data and a
creative developer community has seen an explosion of innovation and product
creation from the setting up of SFData repository - A scheme lead by San
Franciso’s Mayor Newsom.
Many international Open Data
projects come from initiatives at a local government level especially around
the idea of engaging people in democratic process. WashingtonDC Apps for
Democracy is a case in point where the Mayor’s Office launched a competition
that cost $50,000 to run but created apps with a perceived value of $2,300,000
for the city. http://www.appsfordemocracy.org
The Vision
The vision is to achieve significant
step-change in the capacity for innovation in the Greater Manchester City
Region by creating what the project is terming an Open Data Innovation (ODI)
ecology. By working with data holding public organisations we aim to help
identify and publish datasets allowing local companies to develop novel and
innovative uses that will have value both socially and economically. The
project responds to a demand in Greater Manchester for standardisation of
public environmental data sources across the ten authorities.
Local authorities and
publically owned organisations produce a wealth of data that has value beyond
its original intended purpose. There are three reasons why the power of this
data cannot be accessed at present. Firstly the data has generally been
collected using proprietary systems that are unique to a particular
organisation; Secondly the prevailing mentality, that all data is owned by that
organisation and if it is released it should be released on a full cost
recovery basis without a view to sparking wider innovation; Thirdly many
organisations don’t know what data they hold.
By identifying what data
sets can be made ready for public release we are preparing the ground for
developing a £20k challenge and an innovation process that will support SMEs,
micro SMEs and public bodies in exploiting the potential of the ODI ecology
bringing benefit to the Greater Manchester population.
Objectives
- To identify locally held datasets that could be
standardised and made available to the developer community.
- To work with data holders to enable them to make
the data they hold available
- To create the justification for an innovation
process that will make Manchester a world leader in the creation of Open Data
applications
- To produce a framework for a Software Development
and Open Data toolkit that will enable developers and data holders to utilise
and distribute Open Data
Benefits for Manchester Citizenry
- Availability
of hyperlocal datasets coupled with an Open Data Innovation ecology allows the
potential for more informed choices for Manchester people
- Creates the
opportunity to scrutinise the policy making decisions of local government
- Allows an
informed conversation with policy makers and public bodies, thus reducing the
barrier to engaging in local decision making process
- A wider range
of information and experience could be accessed
Benefits for Manchester Businesses
- Ultimately the
Open Data proposition brings numerous benefits to businesses in Manchester.
- Creates a new
and exploitable market and resource – The Open Data Initiative will create a
new market and demand for data driven services through the creation of
accessible and standardised datasets coupled with tools and knowledge to
exploit them
- Creates
opportunities for Creative SMEs and Micro SMEs – The evidence from previous
Open Data Initiatives suggests that the key business beneficiaries are SMEs and
Micro SMEs as these are most readily able to exploit opportunities through the
model of micro-payments for services through retail portals such as iPhone App
Store.
- Introduces
Manchester businesses to the concepts and methodologies associated with working
with Open Data – Although working with data is core to online businesses, the
methodologies and skills need to interpret large and complex data sets need to
be nurtured
- Supports
Manchester businesses in the development of Open Data based applications.
- Gives
Manchester businesses a competitive advantage allowing skills and applications
developed in the proposition to be targeted at other freely available municipal
data sets
- Creates new
opportunities for businesses and local authorities to work together
Benefits for Manchester Public Bodies
- Identification
of accessible datasets
- Creation of a
roadmap for public bodies to adopt an Open Data methodology
- A deeper
engagement with Manchester citizens
- Potential for
evidence based policy decisions and creation of more transparent governance
- Potential to
build a more robust data infrastructure through developer community feedback
- Creation of an
interoperable and extensible data structure that would have benefit for
community and data holders alike
- Pragmatic
approach to Open Data implementation that allows a gradual phasing of
standards, piggy backing on the natural systems upgrade process.
- Creates new
opportunities for businesses and local authorities to work together
- Making data
online will theoretically reduce number of FOI requests
Benefits for other Communities
- By taking part
in the Open Data movement Manchester will be giving added momentum to other
communities that are moving towards an Open Data Culture
- The
feasibility study will pave the way for a route map and toolkit that can be
used by other communities to aid implementation
- Adoption of
Open Data Standards should allow a clearer comparison and interoperability
between datasets