We’re going back to basics, and covering off some open data fundamentals: the definition of open data, why it’s important, and where to go if you’d like to learn more. If you’re someone who doesn’t yet know much about ‘open data’, this blog post is for you!
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) holds several innovation challenges, which are open to the public throughout the year, in order to find innovative solutions for real world customer problems. Our innovation challenges vary from helping boaters navigate safely on our waterways, to digitising the paper based log book for learner drivers, or helping keep our clearways stay clear. Ideas and solutions come from a variety of industries and backgrounds, bringing new perspectives to the table.
In the last decade, we have seen open data policies geared at making open data transparent, accessible and available to the public. Today, we are seeing improved access to open data across the globe, giving organisations opportunities to innovate and solve problems. We can track our public transport in real time, find out which car park has available spots, and know more about our greenhouse gas emissions.
We, the Open Data and Innovation team, have hosted many innovation challenges over the last few years, and have seen some great pitches. We are often asked what makes a good pitch. After all, you have only five minutes to explain your product and convince the judges that your product or idea is the most compelling. Here are our top tips to help you deliver an effective pitch.
For the last blog post in our 3-part series on OpenStreetMap (OSM), we would like to focus on what the future of TfNSW’s Trip Planner might be if we harnessed the power of OSM. Trip Planner has already embraced several recent changes (see post Changes and New Features in the TfNSW Trip Planner, such as offering mix modes of transportation to allow more tailored results.
As outlined in our previous blog post, OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a free, editable map of the whole world that is being put together by contributors. The data from OSM is freely available for visualisation, query, download, and modification under open-content license. It provides a high level of detail and accuracy that can rival other map offerings, which at times can make it fairly complex to use.
OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative open source project that aims to create a free editable map of the world. Think of Wikipedia but in map form. OSM was created by Steve Coast in the UK in 2004 after being inspired by the success of Wikipedia and the rise of proprietary mapping data and tools across the world. Since it began, OSM has grown to over two million registered users who can collect data for the platform. This crowdsourced data is then made available under the Open Database License.
The Transport for NSW trip planner has been going through some great changes as we continue to embrace the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) philosophy. The recent updates include additional travel options as well as more seamless multi-modal trip plans to help enable the MaaS ecosystem in NSW.
In what is phase 1 of the project, the TfNSW Trip Planner has been updated to include additional travel options along with desired travel times. These changes will allow customers to make more informed choices when planning their trip. The key changes include:
Uber has integrated public transport options into their app and Sydney is the first city in the Asia Pacific region to get the new functionality! From July 29, Uber app users have been shown public transport options that align with their trip including real-time bus, train, ferry and light rail departure and arrival times. Sydney is the fourth city in the world to get the mass transit option after Denver, Boston and London in what is an exciting collaboration between the ride sharing company and Transport for NSW.
Since January 2016 there has been a Courier Hub operating out of Goulburn Street Car Park. This is a joint project between Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and City of Sydney.