Jan 2015 talk to SW Data Meetup by Kevin O'Malley, City Innovation Team Manager, Bristol City Council. BCC has been exploring the potential of open data to transform the City and Council Services. Kevin O’Malley will outline some of the initiatives undertaken to date, demonstrate some new resources for the developer community, and highlight some exciting upcoming opportunities.

1. Bristol is Open: Exploring
Open Data in the City
Kevin O’Malley
City Innovation Team Manager
Bristol City Council

2. Bold Vision
“There are only two types of data in Bristol City Council;
confidential data which we can't share, and open data which
will be made available.”
Councillor Mark Wright, 30 June 2010
 Promote transparency and increase public and neighbourhood
engagement
 Encourage innovative digital projects that boost the City’s
economy and enhance its reputation for digital creativity

3. Brief History of Open Data in Bristol
 Bristol.data.gov.uk (30+ datasets)
 Pinpoint (ESRI)
http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/pinpoint/
 Instant Atlas
http://profiles.bristol.gov.uk/
 ‘Know Your Place’
http://maps.bristol.gov.uk/knowyourplace/
 B-Open Competition…….

4. Blossom Bristol
A phone based game
that encourages
people to plant virtual
crops in any part of
Bristol and watch as
they flourish or fail
depending on real
environmental
factors.

5. Hills are Evil
Dynamic map overlay
that provides people
with restricted
mobility, cyclists,
skateboarders, the
elderly, and people
pushing pushchairs,
the ability to identify
the most appropriate
route between two
places

6. I Love My City
Using a selected set of
Happiness Performance
Indicators (HPIs)
representing spending
areas (e.g. parks,
greening initiatives,
child care, sanitation,
maintenance), the
ambition was to display
what goes on at a
hyper-local level.

7. Invisible Airs
 Invisible Airs art project by YoHa (commissioned by
UWE)
 Created contraptions powered by Councils Spending
Data
 http://yoha.co.uk/invisible

8. Data: the new utility
“Our research suggests that seven sectors alone could generate more than
$3 trillion a year in additional value as a result of open data”
McKinsey 2013
 Data is now recognised as the new utility of cities
 We want the Council, our partners, businesses and citizens to use this new
utility to create economic and social value
 We want to harness the power of this new utility to disrupt patterns of
inequality - by striving for equal open access to data and by democratising
the skills to generate knowledge and value
 We want Bristol to be the Lighthouse City for open data - internationally
recognised for being brave and ingenuous
 BUT……..

9. Our plea for help
We need help, input, feedback and advice
to make sure we find the right technology,
the right datasets and the right sorts of
support activities to make this a reality.

10. Partnership with Socrata to pilot Open Data
Platform
 Cloud-based service
 Focus on ease of use & flexibility
 Integrates seamlessly with other data repositories
 Each dataset, and even every data record, has its
own endpoint and is query enabled
 Data can be readily linked to achieve 5 Star Data
status
 Clients include New York, Seattle, San Francisco,
Kenya, Australia, the World Bank….and Bath
 Established community of developers and Open
Source Apps

11. Datasets
 140+ datasets live on opendata.bristol.gov.uk
 Some real time data
 Transport API repository now available
 Examples
 Government: Elections since 2007
 Community: Quality of Life survey
 Education: School Results
 Energy: Installed PV, Energy Use in Council Buildings
 Environment: Real time & Historic Air Quality, Flood Alerts (EA)
 Land use: 2013 Planning applications
 Health: Life expectancy/ Mortality, Obesity, NHS Spend

12. Support Activities
 Hack events?
 Competitions/ Challenges?
 App repository?
 Coordinating actions?
 Facilities?
 Showcases?
 Promotion?

13. Please let us know what you think
Kevin.omalley@bristol.gov.uk
Matthew.cockburn@bristol.gov.uk