New York City Sees Its Future as a Data Platform

“New York City’s new Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne said New York City is trying to turn the city’s government into a platform that enables developers and individuals to take data about life in the metropolis and use it to create apps, services and other resources”.

Cities of Innovation: Amsterdam as a Hyper-Connected City

“As the world moves into an accelerated phase of mass urbanization and mega cities are developing across the globe, the governments of many smaller cities are looking for ways to differentiate themselves and to attract talent from around the world. Two cities stand out in their drive to be different: San Francisco and Amsterdam”.

Open data can help plug the gaps in our understanding of sustainability

“A new platform sharing data about sustainability performance is aimed at business leaders but may attract others too”.

MIT app lets strangers anonymously share their lives

“Secret’s voyeuristic little blurbs about the lives of others have made the simple app surprisingly catchy, even though the secrets shared on it aren’t necessarily true. But soon, an app in the works from MIT’s Media Lab should be able to provide a more honest look into the lives of others: the app, 20 Day Stranger, will pair up two anonymous participants and automatically send general information about what they’re doing to one another”.

Open Electoral Data Reveal Errors in Danish Electoral Results

“On the day after the election to the European Parliament, a group of Danish data activist affiliated with Open Knowledge Denmark gathered to pore over the results. In addition to the election to the European Parliament, the Danish election included a referendum on joining the European Unitary Patent Court”.

NYC Councilmember: Public Information Shouldn’t Be a Game of Hide-and-Seek

“On Thursday, a pile of tech-centric legislation was dropped on the New York City Council. When it passed its major open government legislation in 2012, New York’s was the most ambiitous law of its kind of any U.S. city. Taken together, these new bills look a lot like an attempt to simultaneously tune up what some see as the jiggly bits on how the city approaches challenges on data, transparency and participatory government”.

Cabbie Knows Best: GPS Driving System Relies on Cab-Driver Expertise

“The system is called T-Drive, and is the result of three months of movement (equating to 400 million kilometers of travel) from a not inconsiderable array of 33,000 taxis in Beijing, China. Trajectories get combined which in turn reveal the roads that cab drivers like to use and — crucially — at what particular time of day”.