Wow, wow, wow.
The City of Vancouver has just launched version 2 of its open data portal. A number of new data sets have been added to the site which is very exciting. Better still previously released data sets have been released in new formats.
Given that at 5pm tomorrow (Tuesday. Jan 26th) there will be the third Open Data Hackathon at the city archives to which anyone is invited, I thought I’d share the 5 new open data apps I’d love to see:
1. Home Buyers App.
So at some point some smart real estate agent is going to figure out that there is a WEALTH of relevant information for home buyers in the open data catalogue. Perhaps someone might create this iPhone app and charge for it, perhaps a real estate group will pay for its creation (I know some coders who would be willing – drop me an email).
Imagine an iPhone app you use when shopping around for homes. Since the app knows where you are it can use open data to tell you: property assessment, the distance to the nearest park (and nearest park with off leash area), nearest school, school zone (elementary, plus secondary immersion and regular), distance to the local community centre, neighborhood name, nearest bus/subway stops and routes, closest libraries, nearest firehall among a host of other data. Having that type of information at your finger tips could be invaluable!
2. My Commute App:
One of the sexiest and most interesting data sets released in version 2 is a GeoRss feed of upcoming road closures (which you can also click and see as a map!). It would be great if a commuter could outline their normal drive or select their bus route and anytime the rss feed posts about roadwork that will occur on that route the user receives an email informing them of this fact. Allows you to plan an alternative route or know that you’re going to have to leave a little early.
3. Development Feedback App
There is always so much construction going on in Vancouver it is often hard to know what is going to happen next. The city, to its credit, requires developers to post a giant white board outlining the proposed development. Well now a data feed of planned developments is available on the data portal (it also can already be viewed in map form)! Imagine an iPhone app which shows you the nearest development applications (with details!) and heritage buildings so you can begin to understand how the neighbourhood is going to change. Then imagine a form you can fill in – right then(!) – that emails your concerns or support for that development to a councilor or relevant planning official…
For a city like Vancouver that obsesses about architecture and its neighborhoods, this feels like a winner.
4. MyPark App
We Vancouverites are an outdoorsey bunch. Why not an app that consolidates information about the cities parks into one place. You could have park locations, nearest park locator, nearest dog park locator, the Parks Boards most recent announcements and events RSS Feed. I’m hoping that in the near future Parks Board will release soccer/ultimate frisbee field conditions updates in a machine readable format.
5. VanTrash 2.0?
Interestingly Apartment recycling schedule zones was also released in the new version of the site. Might be interesting to see if we can incorporate it into the already successful Vantrash and so expand the user base.
I’m also thinking there could be some cool things one could do with Graffiti information (maybe around reporting? a 311 tie in?) and street lights (safest route home walking app?)
So there is a start. If you are interested in these – or have your own ideas for how the data could be used – let me know. Better yet, consider coming down to the City Archives tomorrow evening for the third open data hackathon. I’ll be there, it would be great to chat.

私はここ数年来、開かれた政府の仕事に深く関わってきた。具体的には政府のデータの公開情報を市民の誰もが活用ができるようにと主張してきた。私が興味を持ったことを書いてみると、公開情報と技術と世代の変化が政府を変えて行くと言うことだ。
In de afgelopen jaren ben ik in toenemende mate betrokken geworden bij de Open Overheid beweging en in het bijzonder kom ik op voor Open Data, het beschikbaar maken van informatie die de overheid verzamelt en creëert zodat burgers de informatie kunnen analyseren, gebruiken en hergebruiken voor nieuwe doelen. Mijn interesse in dit onderwerp is een gevolg dat ik veel geschreven en werk heb verricht hoe technologie, open systemen en de generatie overgang de overheid zullen veranderen. Begin dit jaar ben ik begonnen met het adviseren van de burgemeester en gemeenteraad van de stad Vancouver om de Open Motie aan te nemen (ook wel Open3 genoemd) en het ontwikkelen van Vancouver’s Open Data portaal, de eerste gemeentelijk open data portaal in Canada. Recentelijk ben ik gevraagd door de Australische overheid om deel te nemen aan de International Reference Group voor haar Overheid 2.0 Taskforce.
在过去的三年中,笔者逐步深入参与到政府部门的政务公开领域—更准确的说是开放数据领域,将政府部门收集和生成的数据向普通用户免费开放,并根据各自需求进行分析,加工和使用。笔者在这方面的兴趣主要来自于之前对“技术, 开放系统及其更新换代是如何对政务工作产生影响的”课题的工作及写作经历。今年早些时候我开始向温哥华市长及议会提供咨询服务,帮助他们通过政务公开的动议(政府职员称之为“