Practice case: how open data can help save lives
Cities are releasing data that they store to
make life better for their residents -enabling journalists and researchers to reuse the public sector information to better
inform the public.
Los Angeles (USA) is a good case in point.
The city has unleashed and published online data about traffic accidents, so people can
access to the information and understand why LA's public department has taken certain
steps in particular areas of the city. Open data can help save lives and reduce the number
of accidents; making the city safer for its citizens.
Like New York City, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles has adopted
Sweden's "Vision Zero" program as part of its strategy for decreasing traffic deaths on
streets.
In 1997 the Swedish parliament approved this road safety program which aimed to
reduce the number of traffic fatalities to “zero” by making data-driven adjustments to
infrastructure. The figures speak for themselves. In Malmö, its biggest cycling city, for
instance, there have been only 16 cycling fatalities in a decade, despite the 100,000 trips
per day for the city's 307,000 inhabitants.
Following this example, the project visionzero.lacity.org uses data visualizations to
locate in a virtual map the high injury points as well as the intersections that cause the
greatest number of accidents and deaths in the city.
Once the most conflictive zones were identified, Los Angeles' public department has
used this service and implemented different strategies to improve the security of
citizens; including the Los Angeles Police Department has been cracking down on
jaywalking.
Another practice case of how open data can help save lives is DataScience project. This
American firm has developed an interactive online map showing the locations of
collisions involving bicycles across LA.
Last December Los Angeles Times published this data visualization and its author, Dave
Goodsmith, encouraged people to look at the maps, identify problem areas and suggest
further analyses and actions to mitigate the risks.
Thanks to the data, he found the leading causes of collisions between bicycles and cars;
helping LA council find solutions to mitigate the number of accidents between drivers
and riders.
Datascience project and visionzero.lacity.org shows us how the re-use of public sector
information can transform the open data into high value services which provide citizens
with truthful information, improve their living standard and help save their lives.
Tags: PSI re-use, open data, Datascience, traffic data
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-is-how-visualizing-open-data-canhelp-save-lives_us_56781c17e4b014efe0d5fd59
Author: Alexander Howard
Date: 31/12/2015