GTA 2020 Tech: Residents Are Seeing the Benefits of Open Data, Experts Say

GTA 2020 Tech: Residents Are Seeing the Benefits of Open Data, Experts Say

While a more obvious "positive side to COVID", described by a panel of experts during this week's technical GTA, comes from the rapid acceleration of digital transformation within municipal services, another positive side effect is increased engagement. Citizens with those services. Themselves.

The online COVID-19 panel of City of Hamilton, for example, recently received one million views, according to City Cyrus Tehrani of Hamilton Digital Director.

“We have very busy citizens. Tehrani said they are embracing technology, and they also want to convey what Temini said during Technicity's "convention panel", hosted by Craig Mackereth, senior vice president of global support at Rimini Street. "This has generated a large amount of traffic on city websites and other municipal communication channels."

In general, the dashboard has been very popular with citizens who live up-to-date on the epidemic. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center was one of Time magazine's best inventions of the 2020s, a clear indication that access to open data is something ordinary citizens are not only well aware of, but actively searching for.

"I think it's really exciting, the ultimate goal of your organization to reach people through its voice assistant," said Matt Peterson, founder of Query Inc., voice strategy lead.

Former Toronto City councilor and current PwC Canada director of public sector cities and towns, Michelle Holland, said disapproval about Sedgwick Labs' proposed and now-failed Smart City project came because data was not being collected correctly .

"I think residents are more likely to share their data if it is somehow returned to them and they go back into the community," he said. "I have seen people develop a much deeper understanding of data and data collection and use it to make better decisions for the community."

The City of Toronto Open Data Master Plan, published in 2017, is a strategic framework and roadmap for the city to pursue Toronto's open data approach by 2022. Under the master plan, the city has published an average of 25 to 30 data sets per year since 2009 and a total of 258 data sets and over 1,100 databases are currently available. People just want to know more about the services of the city and their neighborhood.

Jeff Libis, vice president of Liveable Cities, noted the simultaneous increase in appetite for better access to that open data. “It is ridiculous how fast changes in access and data quality have been made during the COVID sector. Many people used to digest a ton of information, but you might not be able to interact with it. "

Orangeville Mayor Sandy Brown highlighted the importance of outside investment and participation. "We were fortunate to invest $ 56 million by a local telecommunications company called Wightman to establish fiber in our city over the next 20 years." The decision was made before COVID, a decision that has clearly paid off after the 2020 events. Without additional capacity, remote work does not happen, no matter how powerful your machine.

He also described how some routes for families in this city were quickly mapped out this Christmas, replacing the traditional Santa Claus parade that would normally take place around this time of year. The information was distributed through the city's website and app.