Today has been a great day! One of the best in weeks if not months for myself.
Earlier this evening, the City of London’s Open Data Initiative has been released. This initiative has been in the works for quite some time now and the credit goes to Elaine Gamble, Director of Corporate Communications of the City, along with others who have assisted in forming this report and pushing it forward within the City of London.
The report contains a few important key pieces. The report contains the following information: the background information about open data, discussion, terms of reference (Appendix A) and the terms of use for the website (Appendix B). The Terms of Use for the City’s open data website is very standard and similar to those municipalities across Canada which have already adopted the open movement.
Come September 2010 (this year, only a few weeks away), the City plans to launch the BETA data catalog website according to the report. The City is looking to release approximately 15 to 20 data sets for the initial launch. These data sets will most likely focus on the Parks and Recreation-related information that is currently already available on the City of London‘s website.
The proposed data sets for the initial release are the following:
- Community pools
- Wading pools/spray pads
- Community centres
- Arenas
- Baseball diamonds
- Soccer fields
- Tennis courts
- Golf courses
- Multi-use pathways
- Football fields
- Basketball courts
- Skateboard parks
- Outdoor ice rinks
- Multi-use pads
- Play structures
- Swing sets
- Accessible facilities
- Washrooms
- Dog off-leash parks
- Community gardens
This motion and report will be is on the agenda for Wednesday, July 21st, 2010′s Board of Control Meeting.
A citizen lead movement is now pressing forward into becoming apart of our City. You can follow the Open Data London at http://twitter.com/OpenDataLondon. Open Data London is a group of citizens who are advocating and advancing the cause of Open Data here in London, Ontario.
Updated: I have included a list of the proposed initial data sets which will be released.
And thank you so much to people like you and Shawn Adamsson (and the team at rtraction) who have worked tirelessly to ensure this gets onto the City’s radar in the first place!
Hey Derek!
Thanks for the kind words. Most importantly though, a special thanks should go to Elaine and the others across Canada who have helped draft this motion/recommendation for the City of London.
The devil is in the details:
The license for this data: “The City may, in its sole discretion, cancel or suspend your access to the data sets without notice and for any reason”
This isn’t Open Data.
At best it is a release of controlled data.
Try harder.
@Glen:
I agree that that line of the terms of use does not look too good. However, you must also keep in mind that this is a “new” concept for most municipalities and especially that of London, Ontario.
This line within the terms is referring to those who may take this data and put a bad twist on it, or manipulate it and perform wrong doing.
More or less, this is to protect the City of London, Ontario and I am all for this at this point in time.