Open Data + Open Source for Transportation

Nick Grossman, Director of Civic Works, OpenPlans

US DOT - 10/5/2010

OpenPlans

Nonprofit tech & media organizationFounded in 1999, 50 people today

Based in NYC, work globally

GOALS

Livable, Sustainable CitiesOpen GovernmentOpen Technologies

APPROACH

Software development & online journalism

50% Traditional Nonprofit50% “Social Enterprise”

Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans

Livable Cities

Gov 2.0 “Open”

about

OpenPlans is a “dot-org” -- a tech & media nonprofit focusing on technology for livable, sustainable cities. Since 1999, we have produced media initiatives, developed open source software, and coordinated open data efforts in the fields of planning, transportation and education.

We’ve worked with major institutions in the public, private and nonprofit sectors -- we perform both traditional foundation-funded work and direct work with public agencies. Selected past and present projects include:

OpenTripPlanner (http://opentripplanner.org) is an open source, multi-modal trip planning engine. Founded by TriMet and OpenPlans in 2009, OTP is now the world’s largest open source software project for public transportation, with deployments in 6 countries across the world. OpenPlans is currently working to bring OTP to more agencies in the US.

Streetsblog (http://streetsblog.org) is a news source covering the transportation and “livable streets” beat. Founded in NYC in 2006, Streetsblog now has outlets in SF, LA and Capitol Hill, plus an affiliate blog network of over 400 blogs across the US.

Streetfilms (http://streetfilms.org) produces short films about transportation and public space management policy. Streetfilms videos have served as instrumental advocacy tools, helping to promote topics such as bike share, bus rapid transit, and Ciclovias.

FixCity Bike Racks (http://fixcity.org) allows for NYC residents to suggest new bike rack locations to NYCDOT. After a 2009 pilot in several NYC neighborhoods, NYCDOT is now using FixCity data to guide its CityRacks installation program. FixCity also served as the inspiration for the District of Columbia’s bike share crowdsourcing initiative.

OpenGeo (http://opengeo.org) is OpenPlans’ most mature open source technology initiative. OpenGeo produces and supports open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, with users and clients across the world. OpenGeo partners include the World Bank, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the Global Earthquake Model.

In 2009 and 2010, OpenPlans worked with transit developers in NYC and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to help realize the agency’s first open data and developer program. OpenPlans organized the developer community (see http://nytransitdata.org) and articulated recommended policies to the MTA, then worked with the MTA to structure its ongoing developer outreach and open data program.

Open311 (http://open311.org) is an initiative to create a common data standard and Application Programming Interface (API) for non-emergency reports (commonly known within the US as 311). OpenPlans is the technical coordinator and process facilitator, bringing together many US cities and multiple private sector 311 vendors to work towards a common standard.

Civic Commons (http://civiccommons.com) is a new initiative to help governments in the US share their investments in technology. Launched in Fall 2010 as a partnership between OpenPlans, Code for America, the District of Columbia and O’Reilly Media, Civic Commons will build a catalog of shareable applications, assist governments with the technical and legal aspects of sharing software, and coordinate open data initiatives.

OpenPlans is currently working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to implement the open source Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) information system OneBusAway (http://onebusaway.org). This pilot project will result in a real-time data server plus web and mobile applications for buses in NYC.

OpenPlans is currently working with the New York City Department of Transportation to build Feedback Portals for transportation projects in NYC. Built using open source software, these portals will increase the agency’s capacity to integrate meaningful public participation into its planning processes.

Transportation Tech Unconferences

NYC & SF

March 2011

http://transportationcamp.org

With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, OpenPlans is organizing a pair of transportation technology “unconferences” in March 2011. These community-driven events will bring together transportation practitioners, public agencies, vendors and independent technologists, towards the goals of addressing technical and policy challenges, building community, and furthering the development of technologies for smart transportation.

Open Transportation Approach

• Education & Advocacy

• Community Building & Events

• Core Technology Development (Open Source)

• Open Data & Open Standards Support

Today we’ll focus on two aspects of our work: open source software development and open data.

Open Government

• Transparency

• Participation

• Collaboration

As you know, there has been a big push recently towards “open government” -- from transparency (publishing information & data online), to participation (new tools & techniques for gov’t-citizen engagement) to collaboration (among agencies and with the public). Today we’ll talk about some of the technical foundations of open government.

Agency

Government as a Platform

AppsOld model

An idea that has been discussed at length within the opengov/tech community is the notion of “government as a platform” -- in other words, thinking of government tech/data/information as a foundation upon which others can build. In the old model, government is the direct provider of functionality and services -- in other words, they create all the “apps” and public interfaces.

Agency

Government as a Platform

App

Core services Value added at no cost

AppsApp

App

APIsData PlatformNew model

Think in terms of “government as a platform”, government focuses on providing data and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow others (other governments, private companies, etc.) to build tools using government data and services. This “platform” layer enables collaboration and innovation, while still allowing agences to also produce their own applications as needed. Aside from the potential for innovation, a major opportunity with this approach is to reduce the overall costs of delivering government IT projects.

Agencies are starting to thinkless like app developers

and more like platform providers

In other words, agencies are starting to think less like app developers and more like platform providers. For example, think about Apple’s role re: the app store -- they created the core set of applications (mail, calendar, etc.), then opened up the platform for others to innovate.

Transportation Examples

We’re already seeing this play out in the field of transportation. For example, in 2005, Portland’s TriMet began publishing their route and schedule data in a standard format called General Transit Feed Specification. This allowed the data to integrate easily with Google Transit and other tools. Since then, more agencies have begun to adopt the standard....

Transportation Examples

...which has resulted in an explosion of transit-related “apps” for mobile and web platforms (over 400 apps for “transit” in the iPhone app store as of this writing).

Transportation Examples

This hasn’t happened by itself. Tech advocacy efforts such as OpenPlans’ NY Transit Data campaign (mentioned above) and the website City-Go-Round.org have helped convince agencies of the value of opening up data sets.

Transportation Examples

So far, this approach has mostly been taken in the public transportation sector. But what are the opportunities for open data elsewhere in transportation?

Transportation Examples

For example, there are already over 100 taxi-related apps in the app store, despite the lack of open data programs among taxi providers. How could this opportunity be taken even further?

An Open Platform for Transportation

Vehicle Locations

Routing Data Mgmt

Ride Demand ...Feedback

Agency Operations

Open APIs for data and services, powered by Open Source

Consumer Applications

Payments

Towards the goals of livable, sustainable cities, OpenPlans is working to develop open source tools that support transportation operations and management. Tools highlighted above include OneBusAway for vehicle locations, OpenTripPlanner for multi-modal routing, and the OpenGeo suite for geospatial data management.

Open Source Approach

Identify, improve and support the best open source products

OpenTripPlanner

OneBusAway

OpenGeo

Our strategy is to match existing open source tools with forward-thinking public agencies, and then improve, extend and support the tools. The map above highlights some of our tools and partners.

Critical Issues & Questions

• Establishing Open Data policies & practices

• Promoting standards for open data

• Communicating the “transportation platform” vision

• Finding & supporting the leading agencies

• Funding & coordinating multi-city projects

• ...

This is a work in progress -- there are still many issues to be addressed, which we are working towards, though partnerships, research, events, and new initiatives.

What does this have to do with livability?

Widespread access to transportation data can empower:

• Better transportation decisions

• Meaningful citizen involvement

• New insights

Photo: Sam Lin - http://www.sldesigns.ca/photoblog/archives/2009/02/17/waiting-waiting

While much of this discussion has been at a technical level, the real purpose is to make cities more sustainable and livable through the better use of technology and information. With better access to transportation data, whether real-time for getting around the city, or historical for analysis and policymaking, we can empower smart transportation and better decisionmaking.

Thanks!

OpenPlans: http://openplans.org

Nick Grossman: nick@openplans.org @nickgrossman