Text Petja Partanen
The benefits of open data reserves cannot be realised unless the data is put into use. Helsinki organises developer meetups with those making use of the Helsinki Region Infoshare data reserves and the city’s open data interfaces. The city also gives practical support to programming work.
Software developer Mikael Kopteff has a daytime job in a successful software company – and at night he writes code for no money. He is one of the developers running the OpenHelsinki.net service which aims to open the decision-making processes of the City of Helsinki.
”We want to give the residents an opportunity to follow what is going on in their neighbourhood”, said Kopteff while presenting the service in a developer workshop in June 2013.
Helsinki began to meet with application developers on a regular basis in spring 2012. Up to three workshops have been organised monthly. The topics include, for instance, devising possibilities for a more varied use of the travel cards that everyone carries in their pockets, or ways to exploit the city’s open data interfaces for the benefit and joy of all citizens.
The website dev.hel.fi plays an important part in promoting the cooperation between the city and the application developer community. The site enables the community to take part in developing the specifications for the city’s interfaces and testing them.
”The site also advertises upcoming developer meetups and contests targeted to developers”, says Jaakko Rajaniemi from the City of Helsinki IT Division.
The website was set up by the IT Division and the city-owned development company Forum Virium Helsinki. The ‘Helsinki Loves Developers’ logo embodies the city’s philosophy. ”Working together as partners can make Helsinki the most developer-friendly urban community in the world”, says Hanna Niemi-Hugaerts from Forum Virium Helsinki.
The developer portal presents the data interfaces that the city has already opened up. The interface to the Helsinki Metropolitan Area service map, for instance, has been put to active use by developers after the city opened it in summer 2011. During 2012, over 3.8 million queries were made through that interface.
Opening up the city’s information systems and supporting independent application developers are among the objectives set in Helsinki’s City Strategy. For the time being, most participants in the open data workshops are IT enthusiasts and civic activists, but the city strives to encourage private enterprises to join in and use the open data reserves.
”Together with HRI, we will embark on a roadshow to visit the businesses of the region”, Hanna Niemi-Hugaerts reveals.
Hanna Niemi-Hugaerts from Forum Virium Helsinki and Jaakko Rajaniemi from the City of Helsinki are transforming the city into a software developers’ paradise.
“We want to give the residents an opportunity to follow what is going on in their neighbourhood.”
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The open data application contest Apps4Finland, organised since 2009, returned for a fifth year in 2013 with a new format.
”The contest is being transformed into a problem-solving community which could support those seeking solutions even to major challenges”, says Apps4Finland Coordinator Petri Kola.
The Apps4Finland Challenge Partners invite the participants to take part in solving the societal or business-related challenges that they have identified. The Challenge Partners include Helsinki Region Transport, the finance and insurance group OP-Pohjola and the Ministry of Justice. Many organising partners have recently opened their own data reserves for public use. These include the Finnish Meterological Institute as well as the Finnish Transport Agency which is responsible Finland’s road network.
The Open Helsinki Hack at Home programme, launched in summer 2013, supports application developers who wish to build applications that answer the citizens’ needs and uncomplicate their daily lives.
Hack at Home is an international concept that the City of Helsinki has adopted to support those striving to solve the challenges identified by the city.
Helsinki’s Hack at Home programme seeks new software solutions for diverse fields such as tourism, local decision-making processes and the collection of citizen feedback. The data interfaces opened by the city are available. for the development of the solutions.
An aim of the programme is to bring together the needs of the city and the citizens’ programming skills.
”We want to contribute to an open Helsinki, an enjoyable city for all”, says programme coordinator Ville Meloni.
http://openhelsinki.hackathome.com/