Public open data is quickly becoming the new “oil” of the 21^st century; it largely drives the development of new apps and businesses while simultaneously increasing the reach and transparency of democracy. These new methods of thinking and sharing information are helping to boost the economy and society forwards. This article briefly highlights the current developments in the field of open data. It also provides an international snapshot of useful open data apps in the hope of generating and sharing ideas with open data enthusiasts in Finland.

Growth of open data portals and apps

Undeniably, open data is becoming a global phenomenon – every year more countries and cities decide to publish their public data freely to the general population as open data. One of the major consequences is the emergence of national and regional open data portals. The semantic web company has published a rough overview of open data portals around the world. It is a good indicator of the situation but the map hasn’t been updated much in the last years – much of the information was last updated in 2010. It would be great to have an up-to-date version of this visualisation!

As the availability, amount and quality of open data sets increases it sparks more interest amongst academics, citizens, data journalists, developers and researchers. Many cities are actively engaging in and supporting the creation of infrastructure, tools and organisation of regular apps competitions to foster a harmonious open data ecosystem.

Popular app/developer events across the globe are the “Apps4” competitions, which are run on both national and regional levels (i.e.Apps4Amsterdam, Apps4Edmonton, Apps4Europe, Apps4Finland,and Apps4Ottawa). These competitions are focused on supporting the culture of data-driven collaborative problem solving, which has resulted in the growth of hundreds of apps and visualisations for multiple platforms.

Some of the goals for these apps and visualisations are generally to:

• increase the transparency and reach of democracy
• to make everyday life easier (in any aspect)

The countries with the most open data apps seem to be the US and UK, which are both known to be amongst the first-movers in the field of open data. On both national open data portals (Data.gov and Data.gov.uk) they have each listed over 300 apps and visualisations for various platforms. It would be a herculean task to construct a representative overview of all available open data apps in the world – there are simply too many solutions out there!

Below I will mention the creations that caught my eye for each category. The purpose behind showcasing these apps is to encourage and to hopefully give ideas on what can be created from open data to anyone interested in this field. This summary excludes all apps from Finland, as we have listed those in our app gallery already.

Examples of open data apps, visualisations and web services

Apps for bike & car parking

Bikes

• Bike City Guide: “Designed for cyclists – by cyclists. Combined knowledge that’s accessible anywhere, anytime, helps you to find the best way and to discover the flair of the whole city. Your city has more to offer!” Currently available in 30 cities. Platforms: Android, iOS
• Bike Share Map: Global visualisation showing the status (full or empty) of bike racks from participating cities. Shows if racks are full, their capacity and usage history so that bike riders can make informed decisions on where to leave their bike. Platform: Web browser
• Bike Like a Local: “Helps you bike around Amsterdam safely, tells you where and how to park your bike, and helps you remember where you parked your bike.” Platform: iOS
• VeloRacks: Same concept as Bike Share Map but currently only available for Seattle, USA. This app also shows local businesses near the racks. Platform: iOS

Cars

• Carambla: “Find the nearest and cheapest car parking in Belgium for free. Sign up for exclusive parking deals at over 1,300 locations in Belgium.” Platforms: Android, web browser
• Einfach Parken Wien: Simple GIS based app for finding car parking spaces in Vienna, Austria. Shows all disabled parking spots and other useful information. Platforms: Android, iOS

Apps for everyday life & recreation

• Dogator: In Vienna, Austria this app gives relevant information about the local area for dog owners. It displays all suitable dog parks, dog waste bag dispensers and veterinary practices in Vienna on a map. Platform: iOS
• Don’t eat at: “Provides an alert when you check into a NYC restaurant that is at risk of being closed for health code violations.” Platform: Sign into Foursquare on your device
• Mom Maps: “Helps you find family fun places, kid friendly locations on the go in the US!” Platforms: Android, iOS, web browser
• Oh, Ranger! NY State Parks: “Easily find the parks nearest you, filter by activity, and off you go! The app includes more than 200 state parks with photos, maps, directions and links to important numbers and services.” Platform: iOS
• Ottawa Events: Find events in Ottawa and Gatineau, find the location & bus to the event. Platform: Android

Apps for public health

• Edo Malaria Application: “Visualisation that uses colour codes to show the malaria occurrences to population ratio across the 18 LGAs in Edo state (Nigeria) in the year 2012.” Platform: Web browser
• PulsePoint: “Where adopted, the PulsePoint app empowers everyday citizens to provide life‐saving assistance to victims of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.” The app is available for participating cities in the US. The video below speaks for itself! Platforms: Android, iOS

Apps for public transportation

• OC Transpo Tracker: “Uses real-time GPS data to track buses throughout the City of Ottawa and instantly see where your bus is and the estimated time of arrival.” Platform: Android
• Train Times: Same concept as the OC Transpo Tracker but this time for the underground (tube) service in London, UK. Platform: Web browser

Apps for public service

• Government Bills: “Provides complete details of Indian Government Bills.” Platform: iOS
• Raids Online: “Helps the public get a better idea of the crime activity in their area so they can make more informed decisions about how to stay safe.” Available in participating cities (US). Platform: Web browser
• US City Open Data Census: This is a visualisation based on the US City Open Data Census Survey. A very powerful and easy way of displaying the progress of open data initiatives in US cities.

Apps for special needs

• EyeNote: “Identifies denominations of Federal Reserve Notes (U.S. paper currency) as an aid for the blind or visually impaired.” Platform: iOS

Apps for tourist guides

• GoTourist: Information about government approved hotels, restaurants, resorts and much more in India! Platforms: Android, web browser
• I Love NY: “Explore New York State and find information on attractions across the state from outdoor adventures to agritourism.” Platform: iOS

My favourite apps and visualisations

My two personal favourites are definitely PulsePoint and Raidsonline. PulsePoint left me oscillating due to the cause and the benefit it can provide to the general population if implemented efficiently.

Alternatively, Raidsonline intrigued me as it provided the user with very detailed information about the crime in any participating city. It was an eye-opener to see how much crime is committed in the showcased areas – would be interesting to see how the situation is in my city!

Kaarlo Uutela is a trilingual ^{(EN, DE, FI)} university graduate (BSc Management, MSc Business Information Systems). He has lived in Munich and London for 20 years before returning to his roots in Finland. Currently, he is working with public open data in the Helsinki Region Infoshare service.

This article is also available in Finnish: Avoimen datan sovelluksia maailmalta.