Next week Rio de Janeiro will invite local governments, companies and experts, to a global summit in service innovation for cities. The event will focus on green and clean development, urban systems and services, tourism and mobility, health and well-being as well as open government and accessibility.
The Living Labs Global Award has nominated two projects of the Open Knowledge Foundation in
including CityData from CKAN in the category of Free Spatial Data for Information and Services and OpenSpending in the category of Participation in Service Design and Delivery. The CKAN and OpenSpending teams have designed two videos to present the solution concepts:
CityData – Making Cities Smarter is a platform for publishing, visualising, querying and re-using geo-coded data from a range of local agencies.
CityData is a platform that brings geo-coded information from local councils, departments and agencies together in one place. Different agencies can upload links to their data from existing systems either using an intuitive web front end or via a powerful API, into grouped spaces on the platform where they can retain their distinctive branding. It provides facilities for agencies to upload and review data before it goes live.
CKAN brings the innovation of supported open-source software to the field of data catalogues, giving users flexibility absent from proprietary systems and those run only using the ‘software as a service’ business model. It avoids supplier lock-in and allows for rapid customisation to a particular client’s needs. The modular system combines a powerful data catalogue with data storage and querying capabilities.
OpenSpending.Mobi – Following the Money through Augmented Reality
OpenSpending.mobi improves the efficiency of public service delivery by engaging the wider public. The solution is based on a mobile application and a web portal that allows users to address important issues related to geo-based analysis of spending decisions, transparency in public services and citizens’ experience of public services.
OpenSpending.mobi aims to make budgeting debates happen where their effects will take place: out in the streets. The project will geo-code local government expenditure, and present funding information as location-based virtual overlays on mobile devices. When new projects are proposed, both the city government and normal citizens will be able to follow, rate and comment on them.
Velichka is Project Coordinator of Open Economics at the Open Knowledge Foundation. She is based in London, a graduate of economics (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) and environmental policy (University of Cambridge) and a fellow of the Heinrich Böll Foundation @vndimitrova
