Monday, December 22, 2014

One Example of How Open Data is Used

Although from a US City, there are examples of this type of application being used in the Calgary Region:

http://www.govtech.com/transportation/Can-a-New-Map-Simplify-Parking-in-Chicago.html

Friday, December 12, 2014

3D GIS

ESRI's latest paper on 3D GIS you might find interesting.

http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/3d-urban-mapping.pdf

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Calgary Region citizens empowered by access to regional open data

By Paula Arab, Content Contributor
Open Data
Residents in the Calgary Region will have more access to municipal data due to the launch of the Calgary Regional Partnership’s Open Data website (www.calgaryregionopendata.ca).
Greater access to this data has many benefits and applications, including but not limited to:
  • greater government transparency
  • new applications, products or services
  • improved efficiency of government services
  • increased public participation
The new site was was launched earlier this month on international Geographic Information Systems (GIS) day, a global event that, according to the website showcases “real-world applications that are making a difference in our society.”
The launch, at the TELUS Spark Science Centre, was “a way for us to celebrate the work we do and show people how it affects them in their daily lives,” said Jessica Letizia, GIS Coordinator for the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP).
GIS Day presented by the Calgary Regional Partnership
GIS Day at Telus Spark presented by the CRP, SAIT and the AGG.
So far, seven member municipalities are participating in the partnership’s Open Data portal with more than 60 datasets already posted, and more being added every week.
The participating municipalities include Canmore, Airdrie, Banff, Chestermere, Cochrane, Okotoks and Strathmore. Some of the bigger municipalities, such as Calgary, already have their own Open Data portals.

What is Geographic Information Systems (GIS)?

GIS word cloud
A GIS can be used for capturing, storing and displaying data related to spatial positions on the Earth’s surface.
For instance, a GIS can show multiple layers of data on one map, such as streets, bike paths, buildings, schools, traffic lights, and so on.
It enables people to more easily interpret and analyze patterns and relationships, creating applications with real-world relevance such as allowing users to report bear sightings in Canmore, for instance, or finding the nearest taxi stand.
“We’ve had a lot of requests for trails in Canmore,” says Patricia Langevin, who was at TELUS Spark to help CRP launch Open Data. “Technology savvy users want to build  apps around cycling and mountain biking and they want to do really cool things with our trail network because we’re a world class mountain biking place.”
Langevin, who is GIS coordinator for Canmore, says her municipality didn’t have the required resources to start its own Open Data portal. “That’s why this initiative of CRP really benefits us.”
Langevin says requests for municipal data sets come from all channels, including utility companies, planners, and non-profit organizations such as universities looking to do research projects.

Open Data in the Calgary Region

opengov_optimized
Over in Airdrie, Corey Halford has been working on the Open Data initiative for five years.
Halford, the Data Services team lead for Airdrie, estimates it would have cost his municipality upward of $60,000 in one-time costs to create its own database, and another $20,000 to $30,000 a year to maintain it.
As it is, Airdrie’s cost is just $2,000 a year to participate in CRP’s portal.
“The value of the regional partnership is very tangible to Airdrie in this case,” says Halford.
So far, Airdrie has uploaded 18 datasets, including neighbourhood names, civic addresses, schools and churches. Information relied upon by GPS routing companies has also been uploaded, including road centre lines and address points.
The CRP’s portal doesn’t just provide value to member municipalities, it provides value to the public, by empowering them with data that has already been paid for by taxpayers and collected.

“The value of the regional partnership is very tangible to Airdrie in this case”

“We see value in enabling our community to be more resourceful with the information we have at our disposal,” says Halford. “There’s a lot of data the city consumes but doesn’t make available to the public.
Open Data is an engine in which we can give the public access to this data and until you make it available, you don’t know what we be relevant or what the demand will be for the information. Now we can measure it.”
According to Halford, road blocks to Open Data include demonstrating the value of releasing the data, and overcoming the fear of how the information will be used, if released.
“We’re not giving out data that’s confidential or personal,” says Halford. “Once people understand that, they begin to see the value in Open Data. There’s a big push for open and transparent government, and Open Data is one of the fundamentals of open government.”
Paula Arab of Paula Arab & Associates Inc. is a national media, communications and writing consultant.

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Regional GIS Day 2014 - November 19!

Do you know what the word Geomatics means?  How about GIS? Believe it or not, Geomatics technology is part of your life…every day!

Join the Alberta Geomatics Group (AGG), the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP) in celebrating GIS Day 2014 at the TELUS Spark Science Centre on November 19th. Through various hands on activities, an innovation and career tradeshow with more than 30 booths, and activities for kids related to geography and Geomatics, we hope to educate a new generation of Geo-Nerds! If that wasn’t enough, many of the exhibits at the TELUS Spark centre will be open to explore!

If this hasn’t peaked your interest, there will door prizes throughout the evening as well as light refreshments.

Visit www.AlbertaGeomaticsGroup.ca and register today.  Its only $10 per adult and $5 for children under 12 years of age.  As well, you can download the poster for the event and post it in your staff room to ensure others within your teams are aware of this great opportunity.

Come spend the evening at TELUS Spark!

Life is an Adventure, know where you’re going!  Come find out Geomatics plays a part in this journey!

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

5 Common Web Map Design Mistakes to Avoid

Some good points in this article...

http://blog.mangomap.com/post/65510122361/5-common-web-map-design-mistakes-to-avoid#

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Open Government Tour 2014 #OGT14 Hits Victoria BC

Although this event has already happened, there are some comments related to current Government participation levels...

http://blog.gisuser.com/2014/08/26/open-government-tour-2014-ogt14-hits-victoria-to-stimulate-opendata-dialog-opendata/

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Spatial Data Warehouse Ltd. Stakeholder Meetings

In November, Spatial Data Warehouse (SDW) will host two stakeholder meetings to discuss current and future plans for the organization as part of their strategic renewal plan. These meetings are designed to create a conversation with stakeholders in regards to their ideas and concerns about current SDW products as distributed through AltaLIS. Discussion about new products and opportunities for providing access to geospatial data that supports the needs of industry, government and the public will also be on the agenda.
  • November 13, 2014 - Delta Edmonton South Hotel & Conference Centre
  • November 17, 2014 - Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre Calgary Airport

For more information contact Erik Holmlund.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Spatial Data Infrastructure Summit

GeoDiscover Alberta, in conjunction with GeoConnections, is pleased to invite the Canadian spatial data community to attend their 1st annual Spatial Data Infrastructure Summit being held at the University of Calgary, September 17 to September 19, 2014. This conference will explore the role of governments in realizing better means for sharing geographic data and developing improved location-based services for meeting real world needs. For more information, click here.

Friday, August 22, 2014

URISA Recommends the Addition of Addresses as a Framework Data Theme

Although this will be focused on the USA, hopefully Canada can follow a similar direction:

http://spatialnews.geocomm.com/dailynews/2014/jul/22/news2.html

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

First commercial Earth observation satellite with 31 cm resolution to be launched Aug 13

This sounds impressive...

http://geospatial.blogs.com/geospatial/2014/08/first-earth-observation-satellite-with-31-cm-resolution-to-be-launched-aug-13.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fzeissg%2Fgeospatial+%28Between+the+Poles%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

Monday, August 18, 2014

Next Phase of Canadian Open Gov

Recent news from our Federal Government:

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=874909

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Why you should care about open data and how it benefits your community

By Paula Arab, Content Contributor
Welcome to the new world of Open Data portals, data-thons and speed data’ing.
The latter two – data-thons and speed data’ing – have put the romance into Open Data portals by challenging techies to create user-friendly applications from huge data files of municipal information.
Called Open Data websites or portals, major municipalities and governments across North America are literally opening their databases to the public and finding creative ways to make such large quantities of data practical and relevant to the general public.
It’s giving people access to what they have already paid for: tax-payer funded municipal data,” says  Jessica Letizia, who is busy preparing for the launch this fall of the Calgary Regional Partnership’s Open Data portal, which the Partnership will operate and fund on behalf of member municipalities.
Letizia, a data specialist, acknowledges that information alone and out-of-context, is of little value to most people. But it’s a gold mine for those experts who know how to turn the data into useful tools for the public.

Creative and useful applications

While approaches vary, the most successful examples of Open Data portals engage citizens through data’ing contests.
Hackers, developers, statisticians and members of the general public are invited to create accessible applications (or Apps) from the information, bringing together data and technology in ways that improve life for citizens.
For example, one App developer in New York took a municipal data set on restaurant inspections and created the DontEat.at app, “the digital equivalent of seeing a rat or cockroach scurry across the kitchen of a restaurant,” from a Mashable article called “Your City Needs These 7 Open Data Apps.”
Another App noted in the article, tracks cycling routes of users, along with every pothole cyclists stumble upon and other problems such as debris on the road. open-data-pic3-optimized
Such information helps both cyclists and city administrators. The former can avoid the problem routes while the latter can use the App to make more cost-effective and strategic decisions on things like what potholes to fix first, in alignment with the city’s cycling strategy.
Closer to home, the City of Edmonton was the first in Canada to hold an Open Data competition in 2010.
The “Open data hack-a-thon” led to the creation of more than 30 citizen-created Apps based on Edmonton’s open data sets.
The most popular App tracked construction and road closures and gave Edmonton’s Open Data portal “instant credibility,” said Chris More, the City’s Chief Information Officer.
“It’s not enough, though, to just release the data,” Moore has said about Open Data portals. “After all, it’s not like people are clamouring for more data to be released. It takes citizen engagement to help make the project successful.”

Open Data in the Calgary Region

Open Data catalogues allow municipalities to be more transparent by giving them a place to upload large files of public data – everything typically from whose buried in what cemetery to the location of outdoor water fountains, fire stations or every publicly planted tree.
While many larger municipalities in Alberta already have their own Open Data portals, the Calgary Regional Partnership has identified a need to launch and operate an Open Data portal for members that don’t.
“This is something we’re going to do for our members,” said Letizia, who is aiming for a September start-up.open-data-pic-2-optimized
So far, five member municipalities have committed to using the Calgary Regional Partnership portal including Airdrie, Okotoks and Strathmore. Others, like Calgary and Banff, already operate their own sites.
“The new model will save municipalities much in time and money,” says Letizia, a Regional Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordinator who used to work for the City of Airdrie.
She says the currently way of accessing data files was timely and tedious. It involved a lot of red tape and potentially days of work that would result in a small token charge between $25-$50.
“Getting a data request was awful,” says Letizia, who is leading the Open Data project for the Partnership. “It was a massive amount of work for little return,” she said.
“If you can make all of this data available on a site, people could go there to get the information without ever having to contact the municipality. It’s just a lot more efficient and easier for everyone.”
Paula Arab of Paula Arab & Associates Inc. is a national media, communications and writing consultant.

Have any ideas on making municipal and regional data useful? We would love to hear from you!

Monday, June 30, 2014

Canada Maps...sort of

In celebration of Canada Day, the mostly American staff of Buzzfeed tried to label a blank map of Canada and this is what happened:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/tanyachen/americans-fail-canada-again?sub=3374558_3252641

Friday, May 2, 2014

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

ESRI and Open Data

Just in case you haven't seen this new site yet:

https://opendata.arcgis.com/about

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Open Data Day

Saturday, February 22 is Open Data Day!

"Open Data Day is a gathering of citizens in cities around the world to write applications, liberate data, create visualizations and publish analysis using open public data to show support for and encourage the adoption of open data policies by the world's local, regional and national governments."

In related news, the CRP has officially begun it's quest for regional open data and will have updates shortly!

Free Web Seminar: Working with ArcGIS for Canadian Municipalities

ESRI is hosting a free web seminar on working with ArcGIS for Canadian Municipalities on Thursday, February 20, 2014 at 3:00 (MST).

Some of the key points include:

  • Implementing and configuring application templates
  • Implementing the Canadian Municipal Data Model
  • Participating in the GFX and ESRI Canada Community Map programs

Click here for more information or to register.