OPEN LETTER REGARDING OPEN ACCESS TO B.C. GOVERNMENT DATA

 

To the B.C. Government and TransLink:

 

The concepts of open-source, open-access, and open-data have been permeating from the technical communities into mainstream areas for many years now. Where utilized, these concepts have allowed for increased innovation, inter-operability, and competition.

 

We are concerned that the Government of B.C. is falling behind in this area. Some smart local people have been denied access to TransLink's data on time schedules and route maps. This restricts innovation and artificially restricts the number and variety of organizations that can offer services around the city based on this useful data.

 

As a concrete benchmark, we request that steps be taken to open Vancouver's transit feed. B.C. needs to join the list of open data cities:

http://code.google.com/p/googletransitdatafeed/wiki/PublicFeeds

 

Furthermore, we advise the government to support open data throughout its branches, where appropriate. With increased understanding and a long-range view, open data policies can provide significant advantages for both the government and people of B.C. We encourage the government to engage the open-data and open-access communities and find areas where we can work together.

 

Thank you for your time and we hope to hear from you soon,

 

Sincerely,

 

Dustin Sacks, Vancouver

Ariane Khachatourians, Vancouver

Jenn Lowther, Vancouver

Greg Andrews, Vancouver

Jordan Behan, Vancouver

Robert Scales, Vancouver

Megan Cole, Vancouver

Mark Mayo, Vancouver

Alexa Booth, Vancouver

Chris Lott, Alaska USA

Stewart Mader, California, US

Jeffrey Keefer, New York City, USA

Luke Closs, Vancouver

Ingy döt Net, Seattle

David Peralty, St Thomas Ontario Canada

James Cogan, Ottawa

Brendon J. Wilson, British Columbia

Brian Lamb, University of British COlumbia

Jim Groom, Virginia

Andre Malan, Vancouver

Vince Ng, Vancouver

Al Pasternak Vancouver

Roland Tanglao, Vancouver

David Drucker, Vancouver

Joe Solomon, Vancouver

Lloyd Budd, Victoria

kris obertas, Vancouver

Eli van der Giessen, Vancouver

Michael Stewart, Vancouver

Travis Smith, Vancouver

Lesley McKnight, Vancouver

Stuart Hertzog, Victoria

Winnie Pang, Vancouver

Lee LeFever, Seattle, WA

s. b. ramin, vancouver, bc

Noah Adams, Vancouver, BC

Keira McPhee, Vancouver, BC

Michelle Glave, Bowen Island, BC

James Glave, Bowen Island, B.C.

tod maffin, vancouver

Stephanie Vacher, Vancouver BC

Victoria Potter, Vancouver BC

Ianiv Schweber, North Vancouver BC

Arieanna Schweber, North Vancouver, BC

Scott Hadfield, Vancouver, BC

Leslie Biggar, Burnaby, BC

Isabella Mori, Vancouver, BC

Gene Smith, Edmonton, AB

Phillip Jeffrey, Vancouver, BC

Christine Steiss, Shanghai, China

Chris Heuer, San Francisco, CA

Dave Olson, North Vancouver, BC

Nancy White, Seattle, WA USA

Sue Wolff, Lynnwood, WA

Boris Mann, Vancouver, BC

Kim Cathers, Vancouver, BC

KRIS KRUG, GASTOWN

Dave Traynor, Victoria

Shawn Price, Vancouve

Tylor Sherman, Vancouver

Leigh Stewart, Vancouver BC

Rob Cottingham, Vancouver BC

Alicia Harper, Vancouver B.C.

Jan Karlsbjerg, Vancouver BC

Dethe Elza, Vancouver, BC

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This open letter was an outcome of the Open Source Government session at Northern Voice in February of 2008.

 

For more information, contact dustin@sillysoft.net

 

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The response so far:

Subject: RE: Open letter regarding open access to B.C. Government data

From: Peter_Louwe Att@ translink.bc.ca

Date: February 28, 2008 11:02:35 AM PST (CA)

Dustin Sacks, et al

 

Thank you for your letter.

 

TransLink is working on making the information on time schedules and route maps more accessible. One major step in that direction was taken when TransLink began providing that information to Google, allowing transit users easy access to it. While staff here are working on making all the information available on the TransLink website, I hope you understand that our chief concern is providing transit services across Metro Vancouver. Please be patient while we work towards making the detailed scheduling data available on our website and feel free to contact me in the meantime if you seek clarification.

 

Peter Louwe

Manager, Media Relations and Communications, TransLink

604-216-3212

604-561-7707

 

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Subject: 165296 - Access to Information and Data

From: Minister.Transportation@gov.bc.ca

Date: May 15, 2008 3:54 PM PST (CA)165296 - Access to Information and Data

 

Dear Northern Voice Conference Attendees:

 

I am writing in response to your open letter to the provincial government and TransLink, dated February 27, 2008, calling for increased access to data and information. I am also responding on behalf of Premier Gordon Campbell. Please accept my apologies for the lateness of my reply.

 

Ministry staff recognize the importance of providing the public and our various stakeholders with open access to the information and data they need to make informed, effective decisions. The recent public interest in data for application consumption, however, is a new development, and many of the systems we've been using to distribute information were not developed to accommodate this increased demand.

 

To address this situation, new mediums using open standards, where appropriate, are being considered as a means to communicate information to the public. For example, we're now using transportation industry open standards and web services, on a limited basis, to provide DriveBC incident data for both the Weather Network and for TransLink's iMove application.

 

Ministry staff are constantly exploring new innovations and opportunities to improve the delivery of raw data and information. If you have any further concerns or questions about our work in this area, feel free to contact Ian Donaldson, Senior Manager of Application Services at 250 387 8783 or by e mail at Ian.Donaldson@gov.bc.ca.

 

I should also note that TransLink is an independent authority and not part of the provincial government. As such, I was pleased to see that Peter Louwe, Manager for Media Relations and Communications, has already responded to your open letter on behalf of TransLink.

 

Best regards,

Kevin Falcon

Minister