Blog

The Open Data Team was at the Sydney Boat Show in July to help launch the apps Boatable and Deckee following their incubation and endorsement from the Boating Companion Innovation Challenge. The Sydney Boat Show was the perfect occasion to officially launch the apps to market and to signify the completion of another successful innovation challenge. Some members of the Open Data and Innovation Team were there to help out at the Boatable and Deckee booths and to showcase the possibilities and opportunities that come from using open data.

Transport for NSW endorses products that are of high quality, innovative and solve customer problems using transport open data and innovative ways of using technology. What do you actually gain from being endorsed by Transport for NSW though?

Our portal is where we provide all the data and APIs you need to create the next awesome public transport application! As a blanket rule, we do not offer programming guidance and assistance as our focus is on finding as much data as possible and publishing it on the Open Data Hub, thus, we leave the coding up to you. However, we do get asked a lot on how to use our data to develop applications.

Making data as open and transparent as possible is one of Transport for NSW's main goals and part of the overall data policy set out by the government as part of the Future Transport strategy. However, making data open doesn't come without risk. The Transport for NSW Open Data Team must ensure that all the data that is published doesn't put people's lives at risk, doesn't compromise any of the city's security and doesn't violate any privacy laws.

As part of the Open Data Program, Transport for NSW runs various innovation challenges throughout the year to encourage innovation through healthy competition and fast track any potential apps or products to market. Learn more about innovation challenges below.

Earlier this year, we ran the Boating Companion Innovation Challenge. It was a very successful event where we invited 11 submissions to pitch their ideas in front of a panel of judges. Three of these ideas were invited to take part in an incubation program, with two successfully being endorsed by Transport for NSW and launched to the public.

We’re pleased to introduce two products endorsed by Transport for NSW which were incubated and delivered through the Travel Choices Innovation Challenge. The innovation challenge was run in collaboration with the Sydney Coordination Office.

These products are Citymapper and finderful.com. Both are currently available and can be accessed via citymapper.com and finderful.com respectively.

After months of preparation and anticipation, CongestionHack went ahead on the weekend of March 23rd to 25th at UTS Hatchery. The event was a great success and was the first hackathon organised and run entirely by the Transport for NSW (TfNSW) Open Data and Innovation Team!