1. Open Data + Open Source
for Transportation
Nick Grossman, Director of Civic Works, OpenPlans
US DOT - 10/5/2010

2. about OpenPlans
Nonprofit tech & media organization
Founded in 1999, 50 people today
Based in NYC, work globally
GOALS
Livable
Cities
Livable, Sustainable Cities
Open Government
Open Technologies
Gov 2.0 “Open” APPROACH
Software development
& online journalism
50% Traditional Nonprofit
50% “Social Enterprise”
Photo by eyeheartnewyork on tumblr http://tumblr.eyeheartnewyork.com/post/1208761606/nyc-hacks-hackers-meetup-at-the-openplans
OpenPlans is a “dot-org” -- a tech & media nonprofit focusing on technology for livable,
sustainable cities. Since 1999, we have produced media initiatives, developed open source
software, and coordinated open data efforts in the fields of planning, transportation and
education.

3. We’ve worked with major institutions in the public, private and nonprofit sectors -- we
perform both traditional foundation-funded work and direct work with public agencies.
Selected past and present projects include:

4. OpenTripPlanner (http://opentripplanner.org) is an open source, multi-modal trip planning
engine. Founded by TriMet and OpenPlans in 2009, OTP is now the world’s largest open
source software project for public transportation, with deployments in 6 countries across the
world. OpenPlans is currently working to bring OTP to more agencies in the US.

5. Streetsblog (http://streetsblog.org) is a news source covering the transportation and “livable
streets” beat. Founded in NYC in 2006, Streetsblog now has outlets in SF, LA and Capitol Hill,
plus an affiliate blog network of over 400 blogs across the US.

6. Streetfilms (http://streetfilms.org) produces short films about transportation and public
space management policy. Streetfilms videos have served as instrumental advocacy tools,
helping to promote topics such as bike share, bus rapid transit, and Ciclovias.

7. FixCity Bike Racks (http://fixcity.org) allows for NYC residents to suggest new bike rack
locations to NYCDOT. After a 2009 pilot in several NYC neighborhoods, NYCDOT is now
using FixCity data to guide its CityRacks installation program. FixCity also served as the
inspiration for the District of Columbia’s bike share crowdsourcing initiative.

8. OpenGeo (http://opengeo.org) is OpenPlans’ most mature open source technology initiative.
OpenGeo produces and supports open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
software, with users and clients across the world. OpenGeo partners include the World Bank,
the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the Global Earthquake Model.

9. In 2009 and 2010, OpenPlans worked with transit developers in NYC and the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) to help realize the agency’s first open data and developer
program. OpenPlans organized the developer community (see http://nytransitdata.org) and
articulated recommended policies to the MTA, then worked with the MTA to structure its
ongoing developer outreach and open data program.

10. Open311 (http://open311.org) is an initiative to create a common data standard and
Application Programming Interface (API) for non-emergency reports (commonly known within
the US as 311). OpenPlans is the technical coordinator and process facilitator, bringing
together many US cities and multiple private sector 311 vendors to work towards a common
standard.

11. Civic Commons (http://civiccommons.com) is a new initiative to help governments in the US
share their investments in technology. Launched in Fall 2010 as a partnership between
OpenPlans, Code for America, the District of Columbia and O’Reilly Media, Civic Commons
will build a catalog of shareable applications, assist governments with the technical and legal
aspects of sharing software, and coordinate open data initiatives.

12. OpenPlans is currently working with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to
implement the open source Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) information system
OneBusAway (http://onebusaway.org). This pilot project will result in a real-time data server
plus web and mobile applications for buses in NYC.

13. OpenPlans is currently working with the New York City Department of Transportation to build
Feedback Portals for transportation projects in NYC. Built using open source software, these
portals will increase the agency’s capacity to integrate meaningful public participation into its
planning processes.

14. Transportation Tech Unconferences
NYC & SF
March 2011
http://transportationcamp.org
With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, OpenPlans is organizing a pair of
transportation technology “unconferences” in March 2011. These community-driven events
will bring together transportation practitioners, public agencies, vendors and independent
technologists, towards the goals of addressing technical and policy challenges, building
community, and furthering the development of technologies for smart transportation.

15. Open Transportation Approach
• Education & Advocacy
• Community Building & Events
• Core Technology Development (Open Source)
• Open Data & Open Standards Support
Today we’ll focus on two aspects of our work: open source software development and open
data.

16. Open Government
• Transparency
• Participation
• Collaboration
As you know, there has been a big push recently towards “open government” -- from
transparency (publishing information & data online), to participation (new tools & techniques
for gov’t-citizen engagement) to collaboration (among agencies and with the public). Today
we’ll talk about some of the technical foundations of open government.

17. Government as a Platform
Old model Apps
Agency
An idea that has been discussed at length within the opengov/tech community is the notion
of “government as a platform” -- in other words, thinking of government tech/data/
information as a foundation upon which others can build. In the old model, government is
the direct provider of functionality and services -- in other words, they create all the “apps”
and public interfaces.

18. Government as a Platform
Core services Value added
at no cost
App
Apps App
App
New model Data APIs Platform
Agency
Think in terms of “government as a platform”, government focuses on providing data and
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow others (other governments, private
companies, etc.) to build tools using government data and services. This “platform” layer
enables collaboration and innovation, while still allowing agences to also produce their own
applications as needed. Aside from the potential for innovation, a major opportunity with
this approach is to reduce the overall costs of delivering government IT projects.

19. Agencies are starting to think
less like app developers
and more like platform providers
In other words, agencies are starting to think less like app developers and more like platform
providers. For example, think about Apple’s role re: the app store -- they created the core
set of applications (mail, calendar, etc.), then opened up the platform for others to innovate.

20. Transportation Examples
We’re already seeing this play out in the field of transportation. For example, in 2005,
Portland’s TriMet began publishing their route and schedule data in a standard format called
General Transit Feed Specification. This allowed the data to integrate easily with Google
Transit and other tools. Since then, more agencies have begun to adopt the standard....

21. Transportation Examples
...which has resulted in an explosion of transit-related “apps” for mobile and web platforms
(over 400 apps for “transit” in the iPhone app store as of this writing).

22. Transportation Examples
This hasn’t happened by itself. Tech advocacy efforts such as OpenPlans’ NY Transit Data
campaign (mentioned above) and the website City-Go-Round.org have helped convince
agencies of the value of opening up data sets.

23. Transportation Examples
So far, this approach has mostly been taken in the public transportation sector. But what are
the opportunities for open data elsewhere in transportation?

24. Transportation Examples
For example, there are already over 100 taxi-related apps in the app store, despite the lack
of open data programs among taxi providers. How could this opportunity be taken even
further?

25. An Open Platform for Transportation
Consumer Applications
Vehicle Data Ride
Locations
Routing
Demand
Feedback Payments ...
Mgmt
Open APIs for data and services, powered by Open Source
Agency Operations
Towards the goals of livable, sustainable cities, OpenPlans is working to develop open
source tools that support transportation operations and management. Tools highlighted
above include OneBusAway for vehicle locations, OpenTripPlanner for multi-modal routing,
and the OpenGeo suite for geospatial data management.

26. Open Source Approach
OpenTripPlanner
OneBusAway
OpenGeo
Identify, improve and support the best open source products
Our strategy is to match existing open source tools with forward-thinking public
agencies, and then improve, extend and support the tools. The map above highlights some
of our tools and partners.

27. Critical Issues & Questions
• Establishing Open Data policies & practices
• Promoting standards for open data
• Communicating the “transportation platform” vision
• Finding & supporting the leading agencies
• Funding & coordinating multi-city projects
• ...
This is a work in progress -- there are still many issues to be addressed, which we are
working towards, though partnerships, research, events, and new initiatives.

28. What does this have
to do with livability?
Widespread access to
transportation data can empower:
• Better transportation decisions
• Meaningful citizen involvement
• New insights
Photo: Sam Lin - http://www.sldesigns.ca/photoblog/archives/2009/02/17/waiting-waiting
While much of this discussion has been at a technical level, the real purpose is to make cities
more sustainable and livable through the better use of technology and information. With
better access to transportation data, whether real-time for getting around the city, or
historical for analysis and policymaking, we can empower smart transportation and better
decisionmaking.

29. Thanks!
OpenPlans: http://openplans.org
Nick Grossman: nick@openplans.org
@nickgrossman