Cities are changing due to factors like climate change, wealth inequality, and technological advances. As a result, city governments are also changing by embracing open data and smart city technologies. This creates business opportunities for developers to create APIs and applications that interface with city government data and systems. Some examples discussed include transportation APIs, apps to report issues like graffiti or potholes, and visualizing government spending data. The document provides advice on how to enter this field, such as participating in hackathons, working with local incubators, and building relationships with city officials.

1. Profiting From
"Smart City" APIs
Business opportunities for entrepreneurial developers in
the civic tech space
@mgboydcom
programmableweb.com

2. Why Now?

3. Cities are changing
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/china_modern/html/2.stm

4. Cities are changing
The city as disruptive force
• “The Great Inversion” (Alan Ehrenhalt)
• Marry later
• Temporal and remote work
• Demand for urban loft > suburban McMansion
• The Rise of the Creative Class and the Startup City (Richard Florida)
• Climate change and oil impacts
• Financial crisis impacts and widening Gini coefficient

5. Widening inequality
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/11/04/widest-gap-cities-rich-poor/3431423/

6. City Governments are changing
http://www.slideshare.net/ashabook/smartworl-dabr

7. City Governments are changing
Government as platform
• Government as a platform paradigm
• Open data support growing
• Emerging shift to some use of cloud services
• Shrinking or maintenance budgets = need to do
more with less
• Smart city paradigm (sensors, data, automating
workflows and infrastructure)

8. Tech is changing
http://mjskok.com/resource/2014-future-cloud-computing-4th-annual-survey-results

9. Tech is changing
The city as disruptive force
• Cloud: Skok’s Transformative Era
• Hyper-local
• Health data rights
• Open data - corporate, public and social
• Remixing the web
• AI algorithms and predictive analytics

10. Why You?

11. The Time is Now
• Reliable income source
• Growing market opportunities
• Foster a hyperlocal, platform mindset
• Contribute to open source and API standards
• Satisfaction!

12. How?

13. Role of local government
• public transport
• public service delivery
• transparency/democracy
• civic engagement
• cultural participation
• recreational activity
• crime and safety
• food security
• civic infrastructure maintenance
• business development
• reducing inequality/marginalization
• waste management
• traffic management and parking
• walkability
• disaster recovery/emergency
management
• urban planning/land use mix
• bicycle paths and rental schemes

14. Learning from success
Natural evolution of civic tech startups
open API standards, need
to scale to different cities
pushes product into
platform play
app
service/product for
a specific
geographic area
platform
app
consultant
consultant
app
app
IoT
?
consultancy
opportunities integrating
platform APIs into city
systems
apps created built off
platform API
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation

15. Entering the space
Questions to ask yourself
Are there API stds? Do
you need to create an
abstraction layer? Do you
have relationships with
subject experts? Fo you
have r’ships with govt
agencies (or willingness
to develop?)
app
look for local
government open
data API sources
you can use to
create a product/
service
platform
app
is the platform
market already
crowded/strong
contenders?
consultant
consultant
app
app
IoT
?
can you become a
certified partner or
claim a particular
regional market?
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation
how will IoT/
sensors/predictive
analytics disrupt/
transform
processes?

16. Role of local government
• public transport
• public service delivery
• transparency/democracy
• civic engagement
• cultural participation
• recreational activity
• crime and safety
• food security
• civic infrastructure maintenance
• business development
• reducing inequality/marginalization
• waste management
• traffic management and parking
• walkability
• disaster recovery/emergency
management
• urban planning/land use mix
• bicycle paths and rental schemes
Buses
Bullets
Blight
Bucks
Opportunities

17. Buses: TransportAPI
strong relationships with
all transport providers to
access data streams
drew on experience
working on open data
platform
Screach
TV
consultant
consultant
app
Tooth
pick
IoT
tube-radar
hyperlocal market
opportunities
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation
X

18. Blight: SeeClickFix / Firmstep
became a platform to sell
to government, using
open311 standard
built an app to let
citizens complain
about stuff in their
city
app
platform
app
visualizations created
off the open311 data
SeeClickFix platform
consultant
app
app
fitting sensors to urban
fleet to automatically
detect potholes
Mojio
AI/
predictive
apps and
collected via
examples like
MapDataServices
have created
exclusive agreements
with some open311
platforms
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation
identifying graffiti
hotspots

19. Bucks
• OpenSpending
• Data.Gov.UK
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/dec/04/government-spending-department-2011-12

20. Bullets
non-existent:
OPPORTUNITY for
abstraction layer? (Needs
more data science)
app
hot spot maps and
visualizations
platform
app
consultant
consultant
app
app
ShotSpotter
IoT
AI
predictive analytics
determine where
street patrols needed
visualizations;
incorporated into some
sites like Zillow
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation
big opportunity to hustle

21. .. and Beyond: OuterSpatial
participated in open
standards for park data,
identified needs and
challenges for cities/
counties
app
service/product for
a specific
geographic area,
eg/ Transit Trails for
Bay Area Open
Space Council
platform
app
consultant
consultant
app
app
IoT
?
possibility? To help other
cities/counties develop apps
or add map visualizations to
their websites
currently inviting app
developers to build on
platform
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation

22. Where To Start?

23. Hackathons
Challenges
Incubator
programs
Consultancy
projects
Self-invested
lab

24. Challenges
• challenges.gov
• citymart.com
• campus-labs.
com

25. Incubator programs
Opportunities
• fi-ware.org
• Code for.. (America)
• Open Data Institute
• London TravelTech Labs
• Bristol, Leeds?
• NYC BigApps program
• Points of Light

26. Consultancy
Opportunities

27. Self-invested Labs
Open sourcing tools and proving the need

28. How To Start?

29. Work in the viability zone
app
platform
app
consultant
consultant
app
app
IoT
(emerging)
second wave of
innovation
?
mostly need to start
here, but with an eye/
time-to-market goal of
the viability zone

30. Are there open data APIs?
Raw material availability
http://us-city.census.okfn.org/

31. Are there emerging API standards?
De facto? Committees? Leading cities?
• https://github.com/codeforamerica/civic-tech-patterns
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Popolo Project
• Open Civic Data

32. What data do people want
Identifying user needs from popular content
https://www.gov.uk/performance/site-activity-department-for-communities-and-local-government

33. What data do people want
Identifying user needs from FoI requests
https://www.london.gov.uk/mayor-assembly/gla/governing-organisation/freedom-information/disclosure-log/2014

34. Know the procurement policies
Stay under the threshold
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/267937/PPN_1013_-
_New_Threshold_Levels_for_2014.pdf

35. Build relationships with local
government
• Start with the Chief Data Officer!
• Review open data plans and departments working on future tactics
• Review citizen surveys and community needs

36. Pro bono and local project opportunities
It’s the sharing economy

37. City dashboards?
Experiential learning
http://citydashboard.org/london/

38. Thanks to…
• Trailhead Labs
• TransportAPI
• AmigoCloud
• SeamlessDocs
• Firmstep
• Mark Headd
• Emer Coleman
• Dharmishta Rood
• FI-Ware
• New York Transparency
Working Group
• Open Knowledge Foundation
• Five by Five
• Michael Skok
• Eric Hysen

39. Want more?
Follow Mark Boyd on ProgrammableWeb
@mgboydcom
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markboyd@mgboyd.com