Cambridgeshire Insight Open Data: What we’ve learnt from the unexpectedHendrik GrothuisResearch Manager - Local Intelligence & Data ManagementCambridgeshire County Council

Making Transparency Work, Birmingham,

09th June 2014.

Who we are

• Cambridgeshire County Council Research Group.• Team of researchers and analysts.• Topics covered include customer insight, consultations, crime,

education, economy, health, housing, needs assessments and Census 2011.

• Work in partnership cross-organisation and geography.• All our work is published on the Cambridgeshire Insight

website.• We need to manage and analyse a lot of data from many

sources.

3 main avenues of information dissemination

1. Cambridgeshire Insight● Local Information System (LIS) Website● Holds information on many local research and

information themes

2. Cambridgeshire Atlas● Interactive data visualisation tool

3. Cambridgeshire Insight Open Data project● Open data portal● Developing open methodology to release unique local

datasets to stimulate economic growth and innovation● Educating data personnel and consumers

Who are our customers?

• People who use public data. • Public sector officers interested in evidence led policy.• Elected district and county members (councillors).• Residents, community and voluntary groups, including

those seeking funding.• Data analysts/researchers from partner organisations

e.g. NHS, housing agencies.• Private sector data consumers.

Who uses our information…

51.9% are repeat visitors

Real Estate/Residential Properties Consumer

Electronics/Mobile Phones

Home & Garden/Home Improvement

Autos & Vehicles/Motor Vehicles

Financial Services/Investment Services

In-Market Segments

What questions do we answer?

What percentage of children in a local school are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)?

What impact will the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) changes have upon Cambridgeshire?

How deprived is my local ward for barriers to housing and services?

What is the demographic make-up of my local ward?

Using data to inform the conversation and enforce evidence led decision making through local insights

3 main project phases1. Data scoping and community engagement.2. Data inventory and methodology development.3. Data portal technology sourcing and implementation.

“Open” is key Open data standards (W3C and ESD toolkit). Open data formats (CSV, XML, JSON, RDF). Open technologies (Drupal CMS). Understanding local need and demand for open data. Focus on customer centric analytics to present the right data in the

right way to the right audience. Combining innovative use of our “old” data and new ways of

presenting open data and information.

Standards help us

But which ones?

The 5 Stars of open data

• ★ make your stuff available on the Web (whatever format) under an open license

• ★★ make it available as structured data (e.g., Excel instead of image scan of a table)

• ★★★ use non-proprietary formats (e.g., CSV instead of Excel)

• ★★★★ use URIs to denote things, so that people can point at your stuff

• ★★★★★ link your data to other data to provide context

The 5 Stars of EngagementEngaging open data should: ★ Be demand driven ★★ Put data in context ★★★ Support conversation around data ★★★★ Build capacity, skills and networks ★★★★★ Collaborate on data as a common resource

Supporting open data use through active engagement (2010), Tim Davies http://www.w3.org/2012/06/pmod/pmod2012_submission_5.pdf

Remember though, 5 stars of open data are not concerned with quality hence use Open Data Institute (ODI) certificates

Standards help us (2)

QualityThe Open Data Institute (ODI) 4 levels of open data certification:

Standards help us (3)

Careful though...

http://xkcd.com/927/

1. Data scoping and community engagement

How we consulted

We held a series of consultation exercises to find the “What, Why and How” of local open data. These included:

· Online Survey· Focus groups and workshops· Attendance at local data groups· Online seminars· Discussion groups online · E-mail and telephone discussions with key contacts and interested parties.

Initial consultation results: Priority and important data

Data that is important & not a priority

Survey results

Within the online survey, respondents were asked to select three data themes from the list that they would consider a priority.

Six datasets from those listed stood out as being more popular:

Transport: Public transport data (32.6% respondents included this in their top 3) Housing: Planning and new developments (32.6%) Demographics: Data and forecasting (28.3%) Housing: Affordable and specialist need (21.7%) Planning: Land ownership (19.6%) Housing: demand and turnover (19.6%)

Online survey responses – “What factors do you think should inform prioritisation of datasets for publication?”

2. Data inventory and methodology development.

Priority datasets

Economy Employment in the hi-tech community: Cambridgeshire & Peterborough 2012

Cambridgeshire East of England Forecasting Model 2013 Baseline

Housing Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Changes Registers of expressed need compared to lettings and sales Affordable Housing Completions Planning Permission Granted and Housing Completions Housing need register applicants parish preference, social rented lettings

and bidding behaviour

Demography Cambridgeshire Dwelling Stock Forecasts 2012 Cambridgeshire Population and Dwelling Stock Estimates 2012 Cambridgeshire Population Forecasts 2012

Transport Traffic Counts

3. Data portal technology sourcing and implementation.

● DKAN● Drupal-based open data platform with a full suite of cataloging,

publishing and visualisation features that allows governments, nonprofits and universities to easily publish data to the public.

What we learnt● There’s support out there

o Open source community Drupal DKAN

o Open data leaders in public sector

o Interested local partners, especially ones with data

● We can develop modularly

● No need to reinvent the wheel, others are doing similiarPlease be kind, it's v

ery beta!

So what have we learnt?

● “Open” is key (Data, communication, technology)● Data Education of ourselves, staff and consumers is a challenge. It's not

just for app developers. We need to explain complex concepts and educate data producers and consumers to develop a new open data centric culture.

● Engagement: Partners and customers are vital in driving open data agenda and developing a partnership ethos about open data.

● Publishing and communication go hand-in-hand.● Need a mantra: Start small, learn quick and build.● Follow the standards:

o Format: 5 Stars of Linked Data for formato Engagement: 5 stars of open data engagemento Quality: Open Data Institute (ODI) certification scheme

Finally...● “We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there”

Contact Us

• W: Cambridgeshire Insight | Informing Cambridgeshire www.cambridgeshireinsight.org.uk

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