Let's use data to make Ottawa better

Public Sector Digest has released its annual ranking of most open cities in Canada, placing the City of Ottawa third place amongst the 55 cities evaluated.

“We are very proud of this recognition today from Public Sector Digest,” said Marc René de Cotret, Service Transformation Director at the City of Ottawa. “Our Open Data team has been working very hard with our public stakeholders as well as all City departments to bring forward as much of the City’s data as possible in an open and transparent manner.”

Public Sector Digest, first published in 2003, has become North America’s leading publication for public policy. Featuring in-depth articles and case studies, it provides insight into industry trends and best practices.

The Open Cities Index (OCI) was developed by Public Sector Digest in partnership with Canada’s Open Data Exchange (ODX) as an appraisal framework to gauge the level of openness in cities across Canada. The OCI serves to audit existing open data initiatives at municipalities and allows participating organizations to compare themselves against their peer groups and track their openness over time based on specific dataset classifications.

“OCI provides us with a good overview of what other cities across the continent are doing in this space to help us understand where we can devote our time and investments for maximum impact on our Open Data program,” said Marc. “While we are very proud of our accomplishments to date, we know that much work remains to be done to continue to our drive to further enhance our open data catalogue and embody open government principles.

The City of Ottawa will be sharing its traffic data with Google’s Waze traffic app, providing better and real-time traffic updates to help Ottawa commuters better plan their routes.

This is part of a new data-sharing partnership with the Waze for Cities Program, joining other cities like Toronto, Montreal, New York and San Francisco, who have all benefitted from similar initiatives.

Waze is a crowd-sourcing, GPS navigation app where users can submit anonymously where they encountered high-traffic congestion, slower-than-usual traffic speed, collisions, stalled vehicles and closures.

The combination of the City’s traffic information and user submissions will provide more comprehensive and up-to-date information, such as road and lane closures, collisions, construction and detours. The app provides users with route options, latest road and traffic reports, and an option where motorists can get turn-by-turn vocal directions to their destination.

This partnership is another initiative under the City of Ottawa’s Smart City plan – using innovation, technology and leading practices to enhance the resident experience in acquiring information and services.

Residents can also get the latest traffic data, road and lane closures, detours and construction information on the City’s Interactive Traffic Map, and data is available on Open Ottawa, the City’s open data portal.

The City reminds Waze users that the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and Waze’s terms of services forbid sending any updates while driving. Also, all motorists should drive in accordance with all traffic laws and road and weather conditions.

For more information on City programs and services, visit ottawa.ca or call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401). You can also connect with us through Facebook(link is external), Twitter(link is external) and Instagram(link is external).

Quotes

“This innovative partnership demonstrates how we can partner and share data to create a win-win situation where residents, our transportation system and the community all benefit.”

Mayor Jim Watson

“Many residents need road and traffic information to get around in their busy work and family lives. Whether they need to pick their children up from daycare or take them to the rink for a practice or a game, taking the best route is key to making their schedule. This data-sharing partnership with Waze puts City traffic information right in the palms of their hands – enhancing the lives of parents and their kids.”

Councillor Stephen Blais, Chair of the Transportation Committee

“Having just achieved a top three ranking on the Open Cities Index, this partnership is another example of the City continuing to open up its data to foster community innovation and allow residents to choose their channel of choice when accessing the information they need to plan their trips.”

Councillor Jeff Leiper, Chair of the Information Technology Sub-Committee

“The Waze map is a unique tool that evolves with every driver and data point it receives, promoting safer roads and sharing more knowledge with Wazers about potential delays to their commutes. Waze is excited to have Ottawa join the Waze for Cities program as a new partner, giving local citizens a greater ability to circumvent road closures and traffic jams within the app.”

Mike Wilson, Waze Canada Country Manager

Hello Open Data Community,

Firstly, I would like to thank you for all the time and effort you have put in to share your thoughts on how we can improve our City’s Open Data offering. In April, we started our pilot on a new Open Data platform, open.ottawa.ca, leveraging ESRI ArcGIS to make it easier for people to interact with their data. We received more than 50 ideas from the community on every aspect, ranging from recommended datasets to simplified URLS to formatting changes to make data more easily searchable. Many of these have been implemented or uploaded and we are continuing to work towards using your ideas to improve the City’s Open Data catalogue.

Going forward, open.ottawa.ca, will be the source for the City’s Open Data. We have migrated all our data over from the old CKAN platform and in many cases improved or clarified the metadata associated with it to make it more consumable for residents. If there is any data set that you were previously working with on the old site that you either cannot find on the new site or is no longer working appropriately for your use, please let us know and we’ll work to get you what you need.

Thanks,

Open Data Team

The City of Ottawa released a beta version of the new Open Data portal, Open Ottawa on Tuesday, April 2, 2019 as part of a Smart City Update to the Ottawa Civic Tech group.

This updated portal provides residents and businesses greater access to the City’s open data catalogue and is intended to make it easier for members of the the public to learn about City services and programs through digital storyboards and interactive maps.

As part of the beta testing of the new open data portal, the City will use the online engagement platform, Engage Ottawa, to collaborate with the community. The goal is to better understand their data needs, learn how they are using the data, and receive feedback on the overall usability of the portal. We encourage residents of Ottawa to try out the new tools and take part in the engagement opportunities so that together we can contribute to make Ottawa an even smarter city.

For the third year in a row, staff from the City of Ottawa attended Carleton University's annual Data Day. The event this year took place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 and was held in the atrium in Richcraft Hall on the campus of Carleton University. This free event celebrates the latest developments in data science and analytics research within Carleton University, the local community, and Canada.

The event included presentations by Carleton researchers, government and industry experts, keynote addresses, and panel discussions. Presentation topics included artificial intelligence (AI) for public good, research opportunities, stories from local start-up companies and the future of data for the next decade.

In addition, there was a “speed networking” session where City staff met and networked with Carleton students and professors to discuss possible research and class study partnerships. These conversations help identify potential use cases and what data they would need from the City.

Service Innovation & Performance Department (SIPD) and Information Technology Services (ITS) staff had a table at the event to showcase projects related to the City of Ottawa’s Smart City 2.0 – Digital Services Strategy. Students, professors, government officials and industry professionals enjoyed learning more about the Digital Services, Strategy, Open Data program, Mobile App, Open311 application program interface (API), augmented reality, and ways to connect with the City. The event also provided the opportunity to promote the City as an employer of choice. City staff talked with the students about co-op placements and various careers they could have at the City.