Four major municipalities in Canada – Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver – have started opening their data for public use through open data catalogues on the Web. And smaller cities, like Nanaimo, are also following the trend. But what are developers doing with it? Here’s a look at some Web sites and apps that are taking advantage of open data sets, and a few that are trying to promote open government, listed in alphabetical order.
1) Canadian Government Expenses
This site from Bine Consulting Corp. collects and analyzes Canadian federal travel and hospitality expenses claims published under the proactive disclosure requirement. The data is organized in multiple ways, from average claims by department to the largest and smallest claims made to the number of expenses to the longest trips taken. The current total expense bill, which includes all the data collected since 2003, is $156,656,762.80.
2) Datadotgc.ca
A site run by Canadian open government activist David Eaves, Datadotgc.ca intends to act as an example of “what a federal open data portal could and should look like.” The site lists and organizes available federal datasets by ministry or tags and includes a search bar for finding datasets by keyword.
3) DataTo.org
A community-run site from Mark Kuznicki of Remarkk Consulting, DataTo.org is for users and publishers of open access data in the Toronto region. Visitors can publish requests for data, and also comment and rate other people’s requests.
4) Disclosed.ca
This site from Nurey Networks Inc. keeps track of Canadian government agency contracts. Visitors can search for past contracts by agency or department, or use the site’s search bar, to find names of vendors, descriptions of work, durations of contracts and their dollar value. Disclosed.ca says 247,253 contracts are currently in the system, starting from 2004. External links to the contract details are also included.
5) EatSafe
An iPhone app that isn’t yet available from The App Store, EatSafe from OpenOttawa.org uses data from Ottawa’s food inspection database and GPS to provide food inspection reports on nearby restaurants.
6) EatSure.ca
EatSure collects all the food inspection reports in the London, Ont. area and marks their locations on a map. Visitors can click on a marker to see the name of the venue, its address, date of inspection and infraction details. The site sources data from the London Middlesex Country Health Unit. There are currently 921 venues with no infractions, 415 non-critical infractions and 569 critical infractions mapped.
7) FixMyStreet Canada
A site maintained by VisibleGovernment.ca, FixMyStreet is a place for citizens to report problems like graffiti, potholes, garbage and lighting directly on maps of the area. The site them submits the report to the city for repair. Cities currently supported include Fredericton, Montreal, Ottawa and various cities in Prince Edward Island.
8) How’d they vote?
Cory Horner put this site up in the spring of 2005 to provide information on what is taking place within Canadian Parliament. The site includes statistics on MPs, their voting history, lists the status of bills and includes downloadable files of the data.
9) Libraries Ottawa
A free iPhone app from SK8 Wireless Technologies Inc. that uses open data from Ottawa to provide names, addresses, phone numbers and maps of libraries in the Ottawa area.
10) Mycelium
The Mycelium site, created by Kevin McArthur, provides access to videos from the House of Commons and allows visitors to create a 5-minute clip with a link and embeddable URL.
11) My Stops
This $.99 iPhone app from Grayscale Apps provides bus and transit schedules for over 20 cities in the U.S. and Canada, including Edmonton and Toronto.
12) My TTC
A site that uses Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) data to plan travel routes on subways, streetcars and buses in Toronto. Visitors to the site enter their current location (from a mobile phone, the site uses GPS to detect location information) and destination, and the site will provide multiple options for how to get there. A description of where to go, how long it will take, what time the transit is scheduled to arrive and depart and a map of the route are provided. The ability to access stop times and receive service alerts via text messages is in the works.
13) OpenParliament.ca
A site run by Montreal-based Web developer Michael Mulley, OpenParliament.ca publishes what takes place within the House of Commons, including how MPs vote, what bills they sponsor, their media mentions and Twitter posts and when they speak on the floor. The site also searches House transcripts by keyword.
14) Ottawa Dog Park Finder
An online app created by Liz and Thomas Bradley, the Ottawa Dog Park Finder uses Ottawa open data and Google Maps to locate dog parks by address and provides ratings on their popularity, friendliness and cleanliness. The Ottawa Dog Blog says a mobile app is in the works.
15) Ottawa Parks and Recreation
Another free iPhone app from SK8 Wireless Technologies that uses open data from Ottawa, providing maps and information related to parks and recreation facilities, including wading pools and beaches.
16) Ottawa Recycles
Using Ottawa open data, this free iPhone app provides information on where to recycle electronics, automotive, gardening, health and household products in the Ottawa area. The address, phone number and location (using Google Maps) is displayed.
17) Ottawa Trash
Developed by Willem van Bergen, Edward Ocampo-Gooding and Shawn Hooper, this no-frills site asks for an Ottawa street address and provides the corresponding garbage schedule.
18) RepresentMe.ca
An excellent way to keep tabs on elected representatives, this site asks for a postal code and then provides the name, phone number and e-mail address of the local city councilor, MP and MPP for the area along with a Twitter-like feed of their recent activities. The site, created by Shawn Simister, currently supports Ottawa postal codes only.
19) Route 411
A $1.99 iPhone app from Fusedlogic Inc., Route 411 provides public transit information for the cities of Edmonton, Guelph, Toronto and Vancouver. The app is GPS-aware and includes stops and arrival times.
20) TaxiCity
A Web-based driving game built by graduate students, TaxiCity was created using Vancouver open data, Microsoft’s Silverlight development platform and Bing Maps. Players take on the role of a taxi driver, pick up passengers and deliver them to destinations in downtown Vancouver. The students used multiple data sets from the city to generate realistic maps, including block outlines, parks, building shapes and the centre midline strokes on streets, said co-developer Dashan Yue.
21) Torontopedia.ca
This open wiki for the City of Toronto isn’t an open data project per se, but it does support similar ideals by promoting citizen engagement.
22) Toronto Road Restrictions
Currently in beta, this dynamic site is run by the City of Toronto IT department to help the public plan travel routes. Maintained daily, the site uses 911 dispatch data to provide information on current and future road restrictions, festivals and events, traffic flow, electronic messages displayed on highway signs and traffic camera locations. The site supports 44 divisions and includes roughly half a million address points.
23) Traffic Ottawa
A $.99 iPhone app from SK8 Wireless Technologies, Traffic Ottawa allows users to select and display traffic cameras from the City of Ottawa and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
24) VanGuide
A Web app and free iPhone app developed by Nitobi Software Inc. with assistance from Microsoft Corp., VanGuide provides a “social map” of Vancouver and allows users to add, rate or comment on landmarks via their Twitter accounts. The app makes use of open data landmarks such as schools, bus stops and libraries.
25) VanTrash
From Luke Closs and Kevin Jones, this site collects open data from the City of Vancouver’s Garbage Collection Zones site and displays garbage schedules for the Vancouver area on a map. Visitors can click on the map for a pop-up of the current monthly schedule and opt to either add the schedule to their personal calendar or receive a reminder of the next pickup via e-mail.
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