National Economic and Social Council (NESC)Environmental Data: Priorities and Innovation

Wood Quay Venue, Dublin, 24 April 2015

Tracey P. LauriaultProgrammable City ProjectTracey.Lauriault@NUIM.ie

@TraceyLauriault

Critique and Reflections on Open Data Initiatives

1. Introduction

The Programmable City

• A European Research Council (ERC) and Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) funding• SH3: Environment and Society• Led by Dr Rob Kitchin, the Primary

Investigator• Based at the National Institute for Regional

and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA)• At the National University of Ireland

Maynooth (NUIM)

MIT Press 2011 Sage 2014

Aim of the ERC project is to build off and extend a decade of work

that culminated in Code/Space book (MIT Press) with a

set of detailed empirical studies

Aim

Objectives

How is the city translated into software and data? How do software and data reshape the city?

Translation:City into Code

Transduction:Code Reshapes

City

THE CITYSOFTWARE

Discourses, Practices, Knowledge, Models

Mediation, Augmentation, Facilitation, Regulation

2. Openness

Open Data Definitions (sample)

• 1959 Antarctic Treaty• 1992 - UNCED – Agenda 21 Chapter 40,

Information for Decision Making • 1996 Global Map• 2002 – UNCED – Ageday 21 + 10 Down To

Earth • 2005 - Open Knowledge Foundation

(OKNF) - 11 Principles (Licence specific) • 2007 GEOSS - Data Sharing Principles for

the Global Earth Observing System of Systems

• 2007 - US Open Government Working Group - 8 principles of Open Government Data

• 2007 Science Commons Protocol for Implementing Open Access Data

• 2007 Sunlight Foundation - 10 Principles for Opening Up Government Informatio

• 2007 OECD, Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding

• 2008 OECD, Recommendations on Public Sector Information

• 2009 W3C - Publishing Open Government Data

• 2010 Tim Berners-Lee 5 Star of Open Data

• 2010 Panton Principles for Open Data in Science

• 2010 Ontario Information Privacy Commissioner - 7 Principles

• 2013 Open Economics Principles• US Association of Computing

Machinery (USACM) – Recommendations on Open Government

• American Library Association (ALA) – Access to Government Information Principles

Data Sharing

ARTICLE III

1. In order to promote international cooperation in scientific investigation in Antarctica, as provided for in Article II of the present Treaty, the Contracting Parties agree that, to the greatest extent feasible and practicable:

(a) information regarding plans for scientific programs in Antarctica shall be exchanged to permit maximum economy and efficiency of operations;

(b) scientific personnel shall be exchanged in Antarctica between expeditions and stations;

(c) scientific observations and results from Antarctica shall be exchanged and made freely available

Earth Summit 1992, 2002

Agenda 21 – Chapter 40INFORMATION FOR DECISION-MAKING40.1. In sustainable development, everyone is a

user and provider of information considered in the broad sense. That includes data, information, appropriately packaged experience and knowledge. The need for information arises at all levels, from that of senior decision makers at the national and international levels to the grass-roots and individual levels. The following two programme areas need to be implemented to ensure that decisions are based increasingly on sound information:a. Bridging the data gap;b. Improving information availability. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10455/down-

to-earth-geographical-information-for-sustainable-development-in-africa

http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf

GEOSS

https://www.earthobservations.org/geoss_dsp.shtml

3. Open Data

Most Popular Open Data Defs.

1. Access2. Redistribution3. Reuse4. Absence of Technological

Restriction5. Attribution6. Integrity7. No Discrimination Against Persons

or Groups8. No Discrimination Against Fields of

Endeavor9. Distribution of License10. License Must Not Be Specific to a

Package11. License Must Not Restrict the

Distribution of Other Works

★ make your stuff available on the Web (whatever format) under an open license

★★ make it available as structured data (e.g., Excel instead of image scan of a table)

★★★ use non-proprietary formats (e.g., CSV instead of Excel)

★★★★ use URIs to denote things, so that people can point at your stuff

★★★★★ link your data to other data to provide contextTim Berners-Lee, 5 star deployment

scheme for Open Data

Interoperability

Georeference

AggregationData

QualityArchiving

Open Data Census

G8 Open Data Charter

Companies Company/business register

Crime and Justice Crime statistics, safety

Earth observation Meteorological/weather, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting

Education List of schools; performance of schools, digital skills

Energy and Environment

Pollution levels, energy consumption

Finance and contracts

Transaction spend, contracts let, call for tender, future tenders, local budget, national budget (planned and spent)

Geospatial Topography, postcodes, national maps, local maps

Global Development Aid, food security, extractives, land

Government Accountability and

Democracy

Government contact points, election results, legislation and statutes, salaries (pay scales), hospitality/gifts

Health Prescription data, performance data

Science and Research

Genome data, research and educational activity, experiment results

Statistics National Statistics, Census, infrastructure, wealth, skills

Social mobility and welfare

Housing, health insurance and unemployment benefits

Transport and Infrastructure

Public transport timetables, access points broadband penetration

Open Data / Gov Ireland

Federal Geographic Data Platform

• Comprehensive collection & sharing of authoritative data

• Search, discovery, access, & visualization tools built once & reused many times, search once and find everything

• Common web-based environment enabling data integration, analysis, & visualization to support informed decision-making

• Shared governance & management of geospatial assets and capabilities, through operational standards & policies 2014-…

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/canadas-spatial-data-infrastructure/

geospatial-communities/federal

CGDI Principles

1. Open:enables better decision making, the CGDI is based on open, barrier-free data sharing and standards that allow users to exchange data.

2. Accessible:allows users to access data and services seamlessly, despite any complexities of the underlying technology.

3. Evolving:the network of organizations participating in the CGDI will continue to address new requirements and business applications for information and service delivery to their respective users.

4. Timely:the CGDI is based on technologies and services that support timely or real-time access to information.

5. Sustainable:is sustained by the contributions of the participating organizations and broad user community and through the infrastructure’s relevance to these groups.

6. Self-organizingthe CGDI enables various organizations to contribute geospatial information, services and applications, and guide the infrastructure’s development.

7. User and community drivenemphasizes the nurturing of and service to a broad user community. These users, including Canadians in general, will drive the CGDI’s development based on user requirements.

8. Closest to sourcemaximizes efficiency and quality by encouraging organizations closest to source to provide data and services. Thereby eliminating duplication and overlap.

9. Trustworthyis continually enhanced to protect sensitive and proprietary data. The CGDI offers this protection through policies and mechanisms that enable data to be assessed for quality and trusted by users.

Source: : 2012, Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure Vision, Mission and Roadmap - The Way Forward

4. Data at work

All-Island Research Observatory• Spatial data portal and consultancy specializing in

evidence-based planning• Been operating since 2005 (initially as CBRRO)• Interactive mapping & graphing modules both

North/South

AIRO – data, maps, services

The Dublin Dashboard includes:• real-time information • time-series indicator data • & interactive maps about all aspects of

the city 

Benefits:• detailed, up to date intelligence about

the city that aids everyday decision making and fosters evidence-informed analysis.

Freely available data sources:• Dublin City Council• Dublinked • Central Statistics Office • Eurostat• government departments • links to a variety of existing

applications

Produced by:• The Programmable City project• All-Island research Observatory (AIRO)

at Maynooth University• working with Dublin City Council

Funded by :• the European Research Council (ERC)• Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)

5. Considerations

Research Setting

Legal Action

1993, Filed 2007, Won 2009

Crowsourced Data

• Interaction type

• Trigger event• Domain• Organization• Actors• Data sets• Process• Feedback• Goal• Side effects• Contact point

• Policy• Legal• Standards• Data quality• Technology• Sustainabilit

y• Credibility of

the source• Preservation• Security

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1433169/

VGI

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/earth-sciences/geomatics/canadas-spatial-data-infrastructure/

8904

http://spatialinformation.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/white-paper-final-version.pdf

ISO 37120

http://www.iso.org/iso/37120_briefing_note.pdf

6. Final Remarks

Data Types & Actors

Research Data

GovData

GeoDataPhysical Sciences

AdminData

Public Sector Data

Access to Data Open Data

Social Sciences

2005

GeoWeb?

• Open data is an opportunity. • An openness ideology may censor /

impede access / discoverability to some data.• Geomatics and Science open access is

more mature than open data. • Open data communities can learn from

these.• Those working on the environment

should leverage all opportunities and be engaged.