Geospatial: the lifeblood of data

This morning I presented at the FOSS4G Conference at Darling Harbour in Sydney. It’s official name is the Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Conference 2009. It was one of the the many conferences I attend that I wish I could have spent more time at. Cameron Shorter, the hard-working conference organiser (congrats) has recommended I check out the presentation by Paul Ramsey, titled Beyond Nerds Bearing Gifts: The Future of the Open Source Economy. In the mean time, you can follow proceedings via twitter .

I did get to listen to Raul Vera’s enigmatic presentation (he’s from Google), who was on the program immediately after me, and he got me thinking about a heap of things, so I will post these thoughts in the next few days.

Anyway, here is the text of my presentation:

Opening Address
Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial Conference 2009
Darling Harbour, Sydney22 October 2009

For government, Web 2.0 is redefining democratic participation as well as the relationship between government and citizens. Right now in Australia, we live in very exciting times: the process is just beginning to collaboratively co-design the governments of the future, and everyone has the opportunity to participate.

Everywhere I turn, the cacophony around Gov 2.0 keeps evolving into a chorus for PSI to be released, to be made freely available with suitable formats and permissions for innovation.  Access to government data will provide unimaginable opportunities for both private and public innovation now – and well into the future, and it also provides a critical role in creating more transparency, accountability and openness in government, something I have been passionate about for many years.

It is wonderful to see progressive stances from some of my peers in government, and of course to be a part of the winning Trifecta Labor Government policies of the NBN, DER and the ICT Reform Programme which bring us the infrastructure, skills and procurement reform to underpin real progress. I am extremely proud of these highly transformative policies and am excited about the opportunities we will discover through leading innovators in industry, research, government and of course in the Free and Open Source Software community where we see some of the world’s best innovations happening every day.

As we as a society adapt our uses of ICT to a vast array of high bandwidth applications at work, at home and on the move, an emerging force becomes clear which is driving much of the Web 2.0 – and indeed – the Gov 2.0 innovation.

It is of course, MAPS. Our location and relationship to other locations has always been relevant and important. The difference now is that we are learning how to deliver data in a highly visual and interactive way, and the visualisation of data becomes most meaningful to actual people when combined with geospatial information.

Geospatial information is like the lifeblood of data, it creates the opportunity to bring information alive. By mapping data you can turn seemingly arbitrary statistics into a rich, interactive and highly personalised experience, particularly with the onset of Augmented Reality and other Web Squared tools hitting the mainstream market. There is a huge variety of geospatial innovation that you are all leading the charge on, and for that I thank you and commend your efforts.

Similarly FOSS is like a living blueprint – a map if you will – for trust, sustainability and interoperability in the implementation of Gov 2.0 principles. FOSS principles and methodologies are the best case studies you can find for tried and proven online collaboration with constructive outcomes. FOSS applications provide reference implementations for pretty much anything, which government can build upon and customise. We have a lot to learn from FOSS methods and practices, and I would ask all of you to assist us, in government, to understand.

There are or course many innovative techies, many inspiring geeks leading the charge within government departments and agencies. However, now we are seeing the discussion happen at a policy level, which is vital for a strategic and considered, national approach.

Some of my favourite geospatial mashups include:

• Mapping our ANZACs, an initiative of the national Archive of Australia which allows members of the public to populate the site with their memories. This was a wonderful example of content collaboration involving citizens, and of a government department creating a space, a platform for innovation where others could contribute.
• Stumble safely – a US- based mashup of crime statistics and travel options for people to figure out the safest path home after an evening out.
• UK Metrobus – Where you can click on the bus-top you are waiting at to find out the next bus to come your way: this initiative contains realtime data collected from the buses.
• The Australian Government Economic Stimulus Plan website. Citizens can find and get updates on projects in their local area.

As we take these leaps and bounds forward, there are important principles that ought to be adopted, both at a policy and at a technical level.

In terms of policy principles, I’ve defined three “pillars” for open government.

The first pillar of open government is citizen-centric services. The principle is one of recognition that governments have a responsibility to serve the needs of the citizens they represent as best they can, and in a way that is individually meaningful to each person. A fundamental tenet of democracy, to be sure, but a more literal interpretation suggests a much higher priority on the quality of the interaction between citizen and government as services are delivered.

The three spheres of government in Australia: local, state/territory and federal, has over the years created inordinate complexity for citizens organising their lives and an avalanche of information and forms to shift through to get anywhere. We now have the technology and the wherewithal to resolve this citizen interface with government, regardless of the complexity behind the scenes. Service innovation is already happening and citizens ought be engaged directly by the Government to try new things.

The second pillar is open and transparent government. This pillar builds on the principles that citizens have a right to the information they need to inform themselves about public and political affairs, and also the right to participate fully in the democratic process.

This second pillar is to ensure genuine means of engagement between citizens and the government in policy and decision-making. This is generally harder than it sounds but it is essential to garner the wisdom of the crowd. It is vital that government engage with the broader community not just for a conversation, but in genuine partnership between political leaders, government bureaucrats and the Australian people so we can – as a society – respond most effectively to the specific social and economic challenges communities confront.

This localisation of policy solutions is essential to ensure relevance of government solutions to real situations, and essential to ensure a reasonable response time to new issues and emergencies. Open and transparent government will grow citizen trust and ultimately participation in policy development and government directions.

The third pillar is innovation facilitation, which refers to the government responsibility to ensure the opportunities are made available for public and private innovation that adds value to government data and systems. This of course takes into account the fact that there are specific data and systems that cannot be openly accessible where there are privacy, security or commercial responsibilities. However, as has been evident in the US for many years, open access to government data can dramatically increase the value created from the data both socially and economically. This means the society as a whole benefits from access to the data.

Public sector information ought to be in the public domain not just to facilitate innovation in the public and private spheres, but to enable individual citizens to make informed choices. Just to be clear, I am not talking about personal information that we expect to be private and secure. I am talking about general information about the places we live, the environment we live in, the things we do as a society.

This principle should also extend to cultural collections for which the Commonwealth is custodian on behalf of the people of Australia. Transparency in this area would ensure that there is a culture of scrutiny and collaboration rather than a culture of secrecy. Finally, the need for sustainable access to all this information in the future is essential. Open standards and formats become the public insurance policy to ensure perpetual access to government data.

As you can see, all of these policy principles relate and enhance the opportunity to use and apply geospatial data. If we are to leverage geospatial data fully, we must within government ensure that geospatial data is a) actually captured as part of the normal process of data creation, b) captured in a usable way incorporating where appropriate open metadata and format standards, and with permissive copyright.

I want to expand on this second point on openness: Open standards, open communities, open knowledge and Open Source are all being discussed, cited and implemented in order to ensure trusted, sustainable and interoperable initiatives.

I’d like to outline a few basic technical principles that I believe would assist in ensuring the platforms for innovation created by government achieve the policy goals just mentioned.

• Sustainable data – All government data should be stored by default in openly documented and freely available standards to ensure future access to government data as well as accessibility for people who may not run the same software or systems.
• Discoverability – Government information and services should be easy to find, be it through websites or search engines. This means metadata, geospatial information, SEO and ensuring information is translated from government language into English all become valuable skills in the public service.
• Interoperability – Government applications and websites should be based on open APIs and use open protocol standards to ensure interoperability with other systems.
• Trust – Government systems need to instil trust in the general public particularly as data sets are opened up and more government services move online. Using software that can be verified and scrutinised such as Free & Open Source Software tools, can greatly improve public trust in government systems.
• No more reinvention of the wheel – government should be better about leveraging existing efforts and technologies, whether it be within another department or publicly available. Collaboration requires some incentive: some recognition for collaboration between smart local government solutions and federal agencies that can take the solutions nation-wide. This need not be limited to technology, but also to methodologies, such as how we can apply the many lessons on community development and collaborative online software development from FOSS to government.

When it comes to geospatial data, Government has a great responsibility not least because it is the largest procurer of ICT in the country. As such, I believe Government has several key actions:

• To ensure open access to government owned spatial data for public and private innovation;
• To ensure appropriate spatial data is captured for government projects and data;
• To  support this rapidly growing industry given the economic returns it will create;
• To collaborate with both public and private interests to ensure spatial data improves the lives of citizens;
• To invest in spatially enabled Gov 2.0 initiatives to both improve government services, and to encourage industry development in this area.

Earlier this week Minister Tanner gave a speech at the Cebit Government 2.0 event where he defined the goals of the Taskforce as “encouraging innovation, collaboration and more open and effective use of public sector information”. He said “What the Taskforce will provide is a plan for how we get from where we are now to where we want to be: using public sector information effectively, delivering open government, and engaging with citizens and organisations more effectively.”

Here are some things that are happening with geospatial:

• The Office of Spatial Data Management (OSDM) has made made data sets freely available. Their recent Spatial@Gov conference has a fantastic array of case studies in Australia which you can read on their website. One of their projects is the “Interoperability demonstration” which shows many example data sets on a map that can we switched on and off for easy information browsing.
• I want to briefly point out the importance of the industry/government action agenda established in 2001 in Australia. The action agenda was an important step towards developing Australia’s Spatial Data Infrastructure. This  initiative was supported by the then Coalition Government, and strong bipartisan support for the spatial industry continues under Labor. I remember at the time how hard the spatial industry worked to get this agenda up and running.
• As I mentioned earlier, the Australian Government launched the Gov 2.0 Taskforce, an initiative to investigate and make recommendations around furthering government collaboration and consultation with citizens, as well as opportunities around opening up government data. If you haven’t visited this website and blogged your ideas, I recommend you do so as soon as possible: be a part of the conversation that is discussing what the government of the future will look like.
• The Australian Special Minister of State has articulated the government’s view that the default position of government ultimately ought to be that all public sector information should be available online unless a case can be made not to release it. This view has been echoed in several portfolios and we have currently before parliament a Freedom of Information Bill and a Bill for the establishment of an Information Commissioner. These bills begin these reforms and provide the framework for future progress in this crucial area of public policy.

In conclusion, a strong agenda around both geospatial data and openness will be vital to the Gov 2.0 vision. We have new opportunities for a more inclusive, transparent and collaborative democracy where citizens can move from distant observers to engaged participants, without traditional barriers to entry such as major time commitments or distance. As Dr Andy Williamson from the UK Hansard Society said earlier this week “I’m not a consumer of democracy, I take part in it!” This sentiment is extremely important in fostering a healthy society and it is our responsibility in the government to ensure that citizens are as empowered to take part as possible.

Geospatial data gives life to the concept of Gov2.0, and FOSS provides some compelling blueprints for implementation and processes. I look forward to seeing the outcomes from this conference, and I urge you to continue your enthusiastic advocacy. Our ears are open, and we are very interested in what you have to say.

Thank you.

Tagged: digital economy, government, ICT, open data, open government, open source, open standards