Online Maps

Public data mapped against online GIS

04 Mar 2008

David Cameron “mash-up” speech to Tory councillors in Warwickshire

Look what Her Majesty’s loyal opposition came up with last week

The second announcement I want to make today is about information. For decades, information, power and control have been monopolised by well meaning public officials.

Now, because of the internet and dynamic change in our broader culture, we can consign this top-down model to history. We’re entering a post-bureaucratic age, where true freedom of information is making possible a new world of people power, responsibility, citizenship, choice and local control.

One of the best examples is crime mapping. In cities all over America, police forces regularly publish information about crimes in their area. What type of crime, when it happened, and where. Anyone can take this information and overlay it on an online map. This gives the public unprecedented information about crimes in their local area. And it gives social entrepreneurs, drugs charities, and a whole host of organisations to pick out hotspots, see what needs doing and transform neighbourhoods.

But look at our Government at home. It’s still bureaucratic, still top-down and still old-world. It still thinks it knows best and that it should keep all the information.

If you don’t believe me, try getting a supposed freedom of information request on important issues like exactly how taxpayers’ money is being spent. It’s next to impossible.; this is bad for democratic accountability....

Now, if the actual government (die Regierung an sich) were to pinch these ideas (which are already in its fredom of Information report) we’d be starting to get back on the right track. Hey; it would almost be Ideal grin

 

02 Jun 2007

London’s history proves the public benefit of public data

The power of shared open access to government date was proved 150 ago with the case of the cholera outbreak and the Broad Street pump. Sam points me to this on John Udell’s blog:

If you’re an Edward Tufte fan, like me, you’ll know the story of the 1854 cholera outbreak in London, and of John Snow’s map which showed deaths clustered around the Broad Street pump and which proved that the cause was bad water, not bad air (miasma). That story plays a central in Steven’s current book, and in his talk he points out that Snow was part of a larger cast of characters. One important but neglected figure was Henry Whitehead, a local vicar who collaborated with Snow. Another was William Farr, a government statistician. Although he initially favored the incorrect miasma theory, Farr had the good sense to publish the data that enabled others to find the right answer.

if you won the facts you may not necessarily see the answer. Someone else might make better use of it. They’ll definitely make different use of it.

There’s also a nice Stewart Brand summary of Steven Johnson’s talk about thinking on multiple scales of both time and space. Part of the Long Now lecture series), I think that’s was kicked off this whole thread off (which I haven’t really unravelled - I’ve got what I want and it’s a sunny day outside).

 

18 Jan 2007

Fresh from MySoc labs: planning alerts by postcode

A Richard Pope project, currently in Beta, that gives you planning alerts in relation to your post code. We face a stark choice. We could take a joined up cross-cutting project through several Gateway review stages and go out to tender for an innovative shared service project to put something like this on DirectGov. Or we could just use www.planningalerts.com and buy Richard a pint. 

 

24 Oct 2006

Google Earth’s New USA Political Layer - Fun or a Threat?

Half hearing a garbled radio report, then half reading a garbled article, I thought that Google was replacing Peter Snow and Gallup etc. In fact, Google has simply added a new information layer which users can superimpose on Google Earth maps, to provide some information and links for the 2006 USA elections.

However, how would we feel if Google went further and superimposed on their maps: eg. Opinion Poll results; results of detailed polling about particular political issues; or even the real-time results of “exit polls” while voting was still open?…

 

25 Sep 2006

NSPCC “Be the full stop” maps mashup

Marvellous Google maps mania remains the place to find great maps mashups. They point to this terrific NSPCC campaign which maps support for action to prevent cruelty to children. It has differernt green baloons for regions, childline type servies, and individuals. You can locate various celebrities and see their message of support. It’s kinda fun, like a map-based Pledebank.

It brings back an uncomfortable memory of being awoken this summer by quiet, insistent, worrying sounds from the holiday cottage next door, which my partner lying awake beside me also found sinister. What to do? The local Quakers were helpful, pointed me towards the social services 24-hour helpline. I tried to speak to the landlord of the cottage. It had to be a complaint to the police, which I didnt quite feel up to, so I did nothing more. But if I’d signed up to this NSPCC map I’d have had a phone number, and the moral support of my good mates Carl Fogarty, Johnny Wilkinson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

That was perhaps the hardest “active citizen” choice I’ve faced this year. You don’t want to be compicit in the torching of a paediatrician’s home. But if the sound that child was making wasn’t a cry for help, I don’t know what was.

Anyway, join up here and we’ll all know what to do next time, if there is one (heaven forbid). 

 

24 Jan 2006

GP creates searchable database of NHS quality data

This is cool - Dr Gavin Jamie, a Swindon GP, has written a site that looks at NHS quality data. He’s used FoI queries about the Quality and Outcomes Framework to start a browsable/searchable QOF Database.

Much of this information is at least as interesting for what it says about populations of patients than what is says about individual practices. For instance the prevalence of diabetes in every PCT in the country can now be calculated accurately.

It will also allow study of the effects of the type of practice. Are small practices as effective as larger ones at reducing cholesterol. Are they better at reviewing medication? This website should allow you to answer these questions and many others.

It’s Creative-Commons licensed. It it even has a Google maps mashup within for Strategic Health Authorities and PCTs. You click on the SHA button to get to the local organisation maps. Too late to win a lava lamp from us, I’m afraid, but always in time to make NHS quality data more accessible to every one of us who uses and pays for it. Thank you Dr Jamie!

 

11 Dec 2005

Cancel Transport Direct….Google is coming!

Perhaps they should hold off on Transport Direct (for which, funnily enough, I just binned a flier and travelcard holder). Google is tackling the question of public transport.*

I don’t know the figures but I guess we’re £50m in to a public-private partnership on Transport Direct. I wonder where the risk resides?

 

12 Nov 2005

Google maps prizewinners: you should have heard…

Ordnance Survey is delighted with the outcome of the Google Maps Mashups competition and the winners shoud have heard by now from the Ordnance Survey. I just had a note in from chief exec Vanessa Lawrence’s PA to confirm

I can confirm ... that on receipt of your original email we did contact all the prize winners and have been despatching their maps to them once they confirmed the details of their OS Select choice.

I know that Ordnance Survey is very pleased that the competition was a success, and we were happy to work with Kablenet in connection with such a fascinating subject.

I’ve heard nothing from Google yet - have you? ...I did send a small ping. 

 

26 Sep 2005

Maps mashups - the judges have deliberated:

The judges are delighted to report that the UK map-hacking community is alive, well, and right up at the cutting edge.

The UK has a heritage of Ordnance Survey map data which can offer fabulous detail and quality. And now the whole world has the new online Google maps which offer unprecedented advantages in practicality and user interface. 

Because the Google maps - introduced only earlier this year - present an easier interface for programmers, the better-designed independent services (ie with no pop-ups or new windows, needing no plug-ins and working equally wel with all browsers etc) tend to be Google-based. Google is smarter at getting the hacker community to work using the Google service. So far it looks like “Survival of the simplest”, as Stefan says. But could this turn into “easy come easy go”?

Anyway, here’s what the judge made of the various services we looked at -

Airports

This is one for the enthusiast, and people with a passing interest in airports benign or otherwise. Perfectly good mashup with clear detailed info. One pin in the map locates the airport.

OS Get a Map

We added this in just for comparison. Technically it does use public sector data (maps), but it’s not a mashup, so it’s not really a proper entry. It lets you print Landranger maps. It opens a new window which takes away the basic browser controls. It’s more pretty but less practical than a Google map, and doesnt provide anything not already provided for some years by other (now doomed?) mapping providers like Streetmap or Multimap. Probably an example of how UK public-sector map innovation is hobbled by the Treasury-imposed business model.


Neighborhood Stats

Full set of ONS data retrievable by postcode. We had problems using SVG on a Mac (even tho using an SVG enabled browser) and the plug-in isn’t available. The judges did wonder what it has cost to deliver this modest level of usablility. The very small maps are static and didnt really work for us. Not a mashup, but geographically classified data with poor maps. Requires pop-ups, which is poor form.

Edina historic maps - only available on subscription. We didnt subscribe. So it was disqualified.

Planning portal. Clean design but uses popups. Not clear who’s behind it. Drop downs will be quite full with over 400 local authorities, But we couldnt find any actual maps, so it doesnt seem a likely contender to win a map competition.

Empress (roadworks finder) Dismisses Firfox as an unsupported browser. Needs SVG, when you could, it seemed to the judges, deliver the same functionality without. But when youve installed SVG o IE its a proper mashup, giving the roadworks, so it has the data. Special tool for panning. No data on Alexa

Ninja Grapefruit’s mapped BBC news. Very original and effective - it takes BBC news stories and places them on a map. Presents a full map of the UK with pins for BBC news stories. So full marks, except there is a glitch in the South East: “Leeds woman killed on M1” appears near Basildon and “York Minster trains youths in preservation appears in Southend. But hey, it’s just a glitch.

g-Traffic info with custom overlays with extra info in rollovers. Interesting straight comparison with Empress. But its Google-based so offers satellite and hybrid views. Gives source of data, colour coding for severity and an ETA for it to finish. You can choose traffic jams from a list or a map. Brilliant.

House sale prices - Yes, it qualifies,. It’s Land Registry data, with a pin. Takes a while to find the maps, but it’s not mainly about the map, its about the house price. Feels intrusive - it tells everyone what you sold your housre for - but this is public-sector data anyway.

Five-day weather forecast. We liked this, and want to suggest they should switch to using the much-loved traditional BBC weather icons (no longer used). Lots of detail. It seemed suspiciously sunny everywhere, but it was . Great. 

Spod.cx’s speed cameras...does exactly what it says, even though Spod claims to be based in the Cook Islands. The judges cannot possibly endorse the use of this site for criminality, of course, tho it does advertise detectors. Seems less easy to navigate for not having a post code enquiry. Quite slow, just because there are so many bloody speed cameras. More pins than map in some placees. Nice, we like it.

Lib maps. It works. Custom pins for different libraries. Demonstator only, covering some parts of the country. We like it.

Plymouth schools. Customised coloured pins, and custom bubbles for each school within each view produces mini-maps within the large map or satellite view. Pah! He’s showing off, in fact. Really clever, and useful. A winner.

Honorary mention for Place-O-Pedia
- elegance of design
- we like it.
- uses fully public data (not public sector data) so not really eligible. But it opens the way to all human knowledge being mapped out by location.

E&OE. Judges decision was arbitrary and we think about it again we risk changing our minds. Did we miss any? Let me know.

Thanks everyone for pointing out the sites, and for the fantastic work. Unthinkable just a year ago. 

 

13 Sep 2005

PlaceoPedia mashup locates Wikipedia knowledge

Tie Wikipdia articles to Google maps locations with Matthew Somerville’s PlaceoPedia. It’s not strictly speaking public sector data, but it’s public domain data which is even better I suppose.  Suddenly its an open road ahead to the place where all human knowledge is linked and searchable by locations. 

 

31 Aug 2005

Pick your school in Plymouth

Anyone need a school in Devon? Simon at Total Change gives you a satellite view of the lot - see http://www.totalchange.com/simon/schools/ . Definite contender for a Google lava lamp.

And I defy you to work out what else is going on at the Total Change web site.

 

28 Jul 2005

Find your nearest UK library

Cool. Find the local library with a Google map. The splendid Google Maps Mania blog reckons this one is a prime candidate to win our contest (and they may have just volunteered themselves to join the judging panel):

Libmap UK is a Public and Academic Library location service for UK libraries. By using the selections below you can select a City/Town to centre your search around; select the radius of search; and the type of library and library system you are looking for. The unique bit is that not only do you get the library locations on the map [based on a a select radius around a city/town] but in the overlay you get to create a search of the library catalogue.

 

OFT to study £1bn public-sector information market

Just as Giles Lane and Bill Thompson raise the question of accessible licences for Ordnance Survey data, I see from KableNet that the OFT is to investigate public information

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched a market study into public sector information holders (PSIHs)

It announced on 28 July 2005 that it would look at whether the way in which PSIHs supply information works well for business. It will examine whether they have an unfair advantage selling on information in competition with companies who are reliant on the PSIH for the raw data they use.

Many public bodies have a statutory obligation to collect information or do so as part of carrying out their functions. Often they may be the only body collecting and storing such information.

While some of the information is made freely available, some is sold to commercial providers of information products. They develop their own markets by refining - adding value - to the raw data. Also, some PSIHs compete with private companies in selling value added information.

Examples of PSIHs include HM Land Registry, which holds a property database with access to 20m registered properties in England and Wales, and the UK Hydrographic Office, which holds navigational products and related information.

It was estimated that in 2003-04 the turnover of the larger PSIHs was in the region of £1bn. The total value of public sector information in the UK economy is much higher as the information is often reused as inputs for other companies’ products.

 

27 Jul 2005

Charles Booth’s C19th map of poverty in Hackney

This is cool. A BBC news story about poverty with a zoomable draggable map of Charles Booth’s original survey. But the dragging works the opposite way to what we’re rapidly becoming accustomed to. C’mon guys, drive on the right like everyone else!

 

26 Jul 2005

Five-day UK weather forecasts map

Cool. Five-day weather forecasts all mapped out by Capes & MacLeod (you know - Telfords Premier Used Caravan Dealer). 

 
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BLOGS etc
 Bruce Schneier
Jeff Jonas, IBM
Jerry Fishenden
Headshift
Ian Brown
Kim Cameron, MS
Matthew Somerville
Public strategist
Richard Allan
Robin Wilton, Sun
Sam Smith
Stefan Brands, Credentica
Toby Stevens, EPG
Whitehall Webby
Will Davies

CRITICAL FRIENDS
 Action on Rights for Children
Big Opt-Out
FIPR
Light blue touchpaper
NHS23
No2ID
Perfect e-democracy
Spy blog
Verified Voting

PERTINENT ART
ACLU privacy pizza
Very model of a notional identity
Swizz of the cards
Handelsman: NSA wiretaps
Handelsman: US spying
Wearcam
Googlezon
Three dead trolls
Stefanos Pantagis

ESSENTIALS
Cluetrain Manifesto
RAE Dilemmas of Privacy
NCC Playlist for public services
Sousveillance
Stefan Brands' book summary
Ross Anderson book

Engelbart Mother of all demos
OTHER ID/SECURITY
 ID theft spy
Planet Identity
Pledgebank for refuseniks
Home Office ID cards
Credentica
Ann Cavoukian, Ontario


MYSOCIETY & SAM'S STUFF
 MySociety/
They work for you
Fax your MP
DirectionlessGov
Comment on This

...and the original
Stand ID card campaign
PUBLIC SERVANT BLOGS
 David Milliband
Read my day
Lynne Featherstone MP
David Copperfield - police
Roy Taylor, Kingston
ReadmyDay
Bill Sticker - parking
Ealing Magistrate
Cllr Andrew Brown
Reynolds/Ambulance

MAPS MASHUPS WE LIKED...
 Plymouth Schools
Ben's UK speed cameras
5-day weather forecast
House sale prices
g-Traffic info
Place-O-Pedia

For Google maps mashups see
 Googlemapsmania blog

ADVISERS, NGOs
 Advice now
Advice Services Alliance
Advice UK
Citizens' Advice


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