Open Data is about transforming government data into an open platform.  Open Halton is about transforming Halton with open data.  Silicon Halton is about transforming Halton with network of high tech entrepreneurs and leaders. The way I see it all 3 can help and benefit from one another. Open Data=Open Halton=Silicon Halton. What a fit! That’s why I was so excited to stand up at my second Silicon Halton meet-up and put forward a topic of discussion – you guessed it – Open Data. It helped that this meetup followed the “open space” concept, which was an ideal format to quickly:

  • Share what Open Data is all about in a 3-minute overview
  • Have a break-out session to throw around great ideas
  • Connect with others who are interested in exploring further

Open-DataFor those unfamiliar with Open Data, in a nutshell it’s about helping governments release non-PII data so that citizens and developers could derive new insights and build new cool applications. Think mash-ups of public data: city landmarks (parks, schools, libraries, etc), transit data (bus schedules, routes, etc), schedules (garbage pick-ups, etc), council meeting info (agendas, minutes, etc) — all available to be consumed by today’s Web 2.0 apps on the web, desktop & mobile. Read more on the relationship between Open Data and Open Gov at About Open Halton.

Open Data turned out to be a HOT TOPIC, getting most votes for a breakout. Our breakout was loosely structured around identifying (a) needs & challenges /wrt Open Data and (b) ideas & solutions for those needs.

What floated to the top of all other needs & ideas were these 2 major “buckets”:

TRANSIT DATA:

  • needs for more accessible bus data vs. today’s customary .PDF-only map/schedule option
  • better tools for cross-region trip planning (e.g. taking a bus from Burlington to Milton)
  • needs for rider feedback (and insights) as input for a more efficient transit schedule

LOCAL EVENT DATA

  • need to have easier access to local arts+culture events & other activities
  • better access to information on school & community center programs & schedules

The bus data seems to have been a very interesting area because the data already exists in some type of structured format, managed by local transit authorities, but is not very useful as it’s mostly locked up in large-size PDFs that are cumbersome to read and hence planning a trip, particularly cross-region, is a nightmare. The passion of our breakout group, and all the open data ideas inspired me to double-down on launch of the Open Halton community, and to earmark TRANSIT as our first open data project! I feel that with the help of ChrisRick and the Silicon Halton community, Open Data can be a transformational force in Halton’s high tech landscape. Thanks to everyone @SiliconHalton for such interest and volume of ideas and suggestions! You guys rock!

About the Silicon Halton Blogger

Nik-GarkushaNik Garkusha is the Open Source Strategy Lead at Microsoft Canada with the mission of building relationships with the local Open Source developer communities. Nik is responsible for a number of industry projects including Gov 2.0, Open Data, Open Source and PHP on Windows initiatives, and the founder of the Open Halton community. The common theme across all of his projects is the vision of providing an integrated platform for a seamless end-user and developer experiences across a wide range of devices and services; it’s this vision that Nik helps to bring to life through his leadership role on the Windows platform strategy team, Port25.ca editor and as a local representative of the Microsoft Open Source Technology Centre.

Silicon Halton note: Nik conducted an Open Space session at Meetup 10 on the topic of Open Data in Halton. This blog post was generated from that event. Thanks Nik! 

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