Hackday ‘proofs-of-concept’ are often marvellous things, but they scratch developers’ itches. I wanted an idea that had a specific benefit to business; that demonstrated how open data can be put to work. I thought that if I could demonstrate a time-saving, that would be a start on a business case for the service. And I’m also conscious that there’s been a considerable amount of political will expended in opening the data we have so far. So, I wanted an idea that used data I knew had already been made available by people such as Ordnance Survey, UK National Statistics, Valuation Office Agency and Data4NR. Data already signposted at www.data.gov.uk

In fact, I wanted to demonstrate that the open data that is already available can be used for business benefit. I wanted a case study that would show that the work done to open data up has real, tangible use to real people – as opposed to simply helping developers produce hackday playthings. However, it’s the people there that answer questions like “What now?” that I really applaud. I want real services that use the data that has already been opened up.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the hackday movement. In fact, Neontribe is very proud to be organising Rewired State : Norfolk and we’re delighted that TSO is a sponsor. There’s more on that at http://rewiredstatenorfolk.neontribe.co.uk/

But hence George, the downtrodden employee I invented, whose boss wanted answers about where they should open a new office – and right now! George was the person I was thinking of when I looked for data, for a site designed to save people like him real time.

And hence New Premises? As my entry said, “a web site providing information for organisations interested in moving to new offices in areas of the UK they don’t know well.”

I’m well aware it’s not the most inspiring name – if I’d thought it might reach the final, I’d have spent more time on that. But it uses data that is available right now, and has a business model and exit strategy. It would be funded by display advertising, not Google ads. I could see a range of businesses that would want to reach people like George. Not least, commercial property agencies. And they’d also represent interesting possibilities for an exit strategy and possibly even competition.

The judges immediately spotted a big problem with my idea. How many Georges are there? How many people really do spend time searching for new premises? And how much would the site help them? I’m still not sure – 15 minutes with Ashley Friedlein before the judging would have really helped.

Obviously, I was disappointed not to win. If for no other reason than the site would be a really interesting project from a usability and technology perspective, as well as a case study of open data for business benefit. I must admit, my heart wasn’t entirely in the running of a company that took the idea to market. I simply wanted to help build it. Still do, actually. But it was fabulous to meet the judges, and get their feedback on the idea. And thanks to Robin for saying such great things about my presentation in his recent blog post – the presentation is up here http://www.slideshare.net/harryharrold/openup

I think I’ll be taking George and his boss to other open data competitions – and maybe one day we’ll be able to help him.

How My Neighbourhood came to fruition was simple really. Fed up of having to browse numerous websites to find simplistic information about transport schedules or GP contact details within my area, I began to jot down an idea of how using a mobile site could be the solution to a problem commonly shared by the general public. Using practically any relevant data available via www.data.gov.uk I envisaged that the site would use GPS to enable anyone within that area to access a range of information on a map interface which could also be used for navigation purposes. I named this idea My Neighbourhood.

Initially I submitted the idea based on services within an area. Information on services can be portrayed on a map interface with a marker placed in that service location. To keep this simple and easy to navigate on the map, this information can be subcategorised so that the person can refine their search to cater to their needs. So, if I required information on NHS dentists in my area, I could select the relevant subcategory, which in turn would display a set of markers associated with that particular service. The markers displayed on the map would hold basic information about that dentist and its web link. This method could then be applied to a wide range of data already available, which I’m sure would benefit any area in the country and which I elaborated on in my presentation to the panel.

The day of the presentation was truly a once in a lifetime experience and it was a great pleasure to meet the other finalists, the panel and of course the people at TSO, who I cannot thank enough. I took a lot away from the event, the words of encouragement and feedback received have been invaluable in refining my idea, and thanks to those invaluable words of wisdom, I strongly believe that My Neighbourhood will be a great addition to any area in the UK. As Robin Brattel said, “there clearly is a need” for a site like My Neighbourhood.

“I would like to be able to programmatically access data used to power the UCAS course search. As universities open up more data relating to courses (from library usage data, to open educational resources tagged by course code), access to UCAS data would make it easier to create aggregation and distinctiveness services that span multiple institutions offering similar courses.”

But what does that actually mean?

UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) is the organisation set up by the UK’s universities to administer applications for first-time undergraduate degrees. Each year, universities submit details of the courses they are offering, along with search keywords, to UCAS. In turn, UCAS maintains a ‘universal catalogue’ of offerings, as well as the formal application route, on behalf of the UK’s Higher Education sector. The only way of accessing this complete set of data is by searching on the UCAS website.

By opening up the UCAS course catalogue, we can provide a skeleton for a whole raft of independently published services that can be built on top of that data. By making a complete course catalogue (along with course codes) available, service providers can build services relating to course offerings that span the UK Higher Education sector, safe in the knowledge that they are not creating bias through omission. This is one problem that occurs if we are trying to crowd source the data, we may get complete coverage of courses offered by one university, but sparse coverage of those offered by another. If anything, this may lead to more efficient applications to university through UCAS because of more informed choices being made by potential students.

The first challenge we face is getting hold of the data. The simplest way is for UCAS to make it available. A slightly less convenient route is to request the data from each university, but this runs the risk of getting the data back in a variety of possibly inconsistent formats. Another approach might be to pick up the data from each university in a standardised way, an approach that JISC have been exploring through various projects relating to the open publication of marketing information for courses using the XCRI Course Advertising Profile (XCRI-CAP) data format.

Once the data skeleton is in place, more data can be aggregated around it. There is a wealth of statistics published around higher education each year: from completion rates and qualification rates, to the national student satisfaction survey; from skills maps, to teaching quality scores and employment rates after leaving university. There is also data relating more generally to the universities themselves: student/staffing ratios, research quality, even the state of repair of the physical buildings. At a more detailed level are descriptions of modules that can be taken as part of a particular degree course, along with syllabi, example course resources, and even related library loans data.

With the enriched data available, third parties will then be able to build services on top of that data. Improved course discovery and comparison services offering a far richer or personalised experience than the one provided by UCAS spring immediately to mind. TSO may choose to develop one or more services on top of this data, or publish the data as a service for third party developers. Or both.

Either way, the first step is this: to open up the data.

Tony Hirst is a lecturer in the Department of Communication and Systems at The Open University. A copy of the pitch he made to the OpenUp competition panel is available on his blog: TSO OpenUp Competition – Opening Up UCAS Data

So to the judging process – each of the four finalists were given ten minutes to present their idea with five minutes for questions. The running order was:

• Benjamin Wood, with My Neighbourhood App
• Harry Harrold, with New Premises?
• Tony Hirst, with Access to UCAS University Course Data
• Gail Knight, with The Great British Public Toilet Map

Ben got us underway with a presentation on how he felt there should be a single app which would consume data from various sources and mash that data up on a map to tell us; where our nearest dentist or GP was, when a rubbish collection will be, what shops are on the high street and incorporate a local community news service. Ben finished up by giving the judges badges and drinks mats with his logo on – a nice touch! While this idea has its merits the judges decided not to take it forward, as firstly it is a hugely ambitious project and probably not possible within the development fund available, and secondly, it does face some strong competition from existing apps that are already out there. 

That’s not to say that we didn’t feel Ben couldn’t make this work because there clearly is a need.

Harry’s ‘New Premises?’ presentation was my personal favourite, because he’d used pictures of Star Wars Lego characters (does this make me sad I wonder?) to tell the story of George, an employee given the task by his boss of finding a new office for them to move to. For creative presentation Harry wins hands down! And the idea itself, a B2B product to find where to open an office, I feel stands a good chance of success in its own right. But the judges felt that it again may face strong competition from some of the existing online players and also getting the data i.e. “commercial property available to lease” may prove extremely difficult to achieve.

So that brings me to the winner and the runner up, and a close run thing it was. 

I’ll start with Tony the eventual winner. Tony started his presentation by noting that his original idea was simply to say that UCAS data should be available for re-use. As he’d been shortlisted he took his idea further and explained how he’d use that data and mash it up with other open data already available to create a product which would help young people make the biggest decision of their lives. Tony wants to compare and contrast the available university courses around the country, the universities running those courses and the towns they are in. As an example, someone could compare English Literature degrees looking at the differences between courses, what the average grades were from the institution and what crime statistics were like in the area etc. 

Gail’s presentation on ‘The Great British Public Toilet Map’ was easily the most evolved and in depth of the four primarily because she has been a Design Researcher for a number of years looking at ways to improve public toilets for older people. Gail presented a very compelling argument for why the data is needed and why a website mapping the toilets of the UK is vitally important. And this is why the judges were torn.

To choose between Gail and Tony was extremely difficult as both presented opportunities to help demonstrate the power of open data in terms of helping a specific community of users. Neither idea faces a strong competitor and both would be attention grabbing and adopted quickly. So what made us choose Tony over Gail then? Well it was simply that we felt open course data would help 600,000 young people decide which course and which town was best for them, in what would be their biggest life decision. Gail’s toilet map however, will help a smaller but perhaps more in need group of people and it’s for this reason that we all felt she should be runner up, though it was a very close run thing.

So, I pass my congratulations onto all the finalists. They each presented very compelling arguments and I feel all their products could all work. I am very much looking forward to seeing Tony’s developed and who knows, maybe we’ll see the others go live in the not too distant future as well.

A loo map might sound like a bit of a joke. There is very little attention paid to public toilets, and should the media mention them it is done with the obligatory puns and great British euphemisms. As a researcher of public toilet provision for the last two years, I know that a lack of coverage does not reflect a lack of need. Access to toilets when away from home is something that unites us, regardless of age, race, class, gender or ability.

For many, the inability to find a toilet is an inconvenience. For others, it is so much more. It shapes their lifestyle to the extent that it controls whether they leave their home, and for how long. Continence concerns can be due to a number of factors: medical conditions, side-effects of medication, pregnancy, old age or infancy.

“I won’t go somewhere unless I know what’s going to be there… … because it would just be a disaster for me if I went somewhere and they didn’t have loos. I would just come home again,” – 24 year old with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

Information on where the toilets are is not enough. Opening hours, accessibility and the facilities on offer all affect whether someone can physically use that public toilet. This is information that councils have, so why not share it as reusable, machine-readable data?

Perhaps they just don’t see the point. Local councils don’t have to provide open data about public toilet locations and facilities. In fact, they don’t have to provide public toilets. The best way to convince them of the need for this information is for their residents and visitors to ask them directly.

The Great British Public Toilet Map will use open data that is hosted on council websites. Where the data exists the user can search for toilet locations and information. Where data does not exist, users are encouraged to contact the council to ask for their participation. We would provide a sample letter to help explain the project, whilst encouraging personal perspectives.

The data from the individual councils would also be processed into one common format and made available as an open national public toilet dataset. This can then be used to enhance existing maps and apps that can provide complete and reliable information that helps people to find toilets when away from home. We can also create new applications, such as “Trip-Advisor for toilets!” as one lady suggested.

In theory, it is not difficult to achieve, yet we could all benefit from such information, some of us a little, some of us a lot. In fact it is so achievable that a National Public Toilet Map already exists. It’s for Australia, it was funded by their Department for Health and Ageing and it contains information on 14,000 toilets with the information provided by over 1,200 organisations (www.toiletmap.gov.au).

The Great British Public Toilet Map is the main design output from the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design’s research into improving public toilet service provision. We hope to create a pilot version of the site by the end of the year.

You can read Gail’s OpenUp presentation in full at http://gailknight.wordpress.com

The final took place in London, Wednesday 23 March, with each of the four finalists pitching their idea to the OpenUp panel. Benjamin Wood’s idea ‘My Neighbourhood App’, looked to provide the user with a range of information about an area, including its history, public services and much more. Harry Harrold’s idea ‘New premises’ was to launch a website to help organizations learn about an area they may be interested in moving to, providing information such as the demographics of potential employees. Gail Knight presented ‘The Great Public Toilet Map’, which aims to provide users with a UK-wide dataset showing public toilets available on a map along with any reviews posted. Gail’s idea was awarded runner-up position.

After having to make the difficult decision of who should win the award, Robin Brattel, OpenUp Panel Chair said “The quality of presentations was excellent. Each idea had its merits and all have the potential to become very useable and useful applications, however, someone had to win! The judges felt that Gail Knight and Tony Hirst’s ideas were most in keeping with the rules of the OpenUp challenge, and we unanimously voted for Tony to win because his idea will help a large population of young people make the biggest decision of their life!”

Tony’s idea, which aims to make UCAS data available for prospective students, will now be given TSO funding of up to £50,000 to bring his idea to life and is a great example of how publicly available data can be used to benefit our communities nationwide.

The OpenUp competition has been a great success and TSO would like to thank the panel of experts for their support: Robin Brattel, Nigel Shadbolt, Charles Arthur, Ashley Friedlein, Emma Mulqueeny and Lucian J. Hudson.

Photos and video of the event will be available next week, so watch this space for a full view of the final and the awards coming soon!

In the meantime, congratulations again to Tony and well done to all of our finalists!

It’s been the year of government data. Since www.data.gov.uk launched in January, more than 5,400 datasets have been published and more than 100 apps using that data already appear on the site. We’re looking forward to hearing about your ideas!

In the meantime – season’s greetings from us all and who knows what new data 2011 will bring.

Looks like it is heading this way …

You now have until 31 December 2010 to submit your entry. As an added bonus, the first 50 entrants to submit a qualifying idea will be eligible for a £50 High Street shopping voucher!

If you have already submitted your entry, to ensure we can notify you of any news as quickly as possible, please check your contact details are up to date on your OpenUp account at www.tso.co.uk/openup.

If your idea is one of the five selected you’ll be invited to pitch your idea for 10 minutes to a panel of experts in January 2011.

For full details of the new Terms and Conditions please go to https://openup.tso.co.uk/competition

And in the next few days we’ll be announcing new terms for developers – watch this space.