The GLA and open data: did he really say that?

The launch on Friday of the Greater London Authority’s open data initiative (aka London Datastore) was a curious affair, and judging from some of the discussions in the pub after, I think that the strangeness – a joint teleconferenced event with CES Las Vegas – possibly overshadowed its significance and the boldness of the GLA’s action.

First off the technology let it down – if Skype wanted to give a demo of just how far short its video conferencing is from prime time they did a perfect job. Boris did a great impromptu stand-up routine, looking for the world like he was still up from the night before, but the people at CES in Las Vegas missed the performance and whose images and words occasionally stuttered in to life to interrupt the windows/skype error messages.

However in between the gags Boris came out with this nugget, “We will open up all the GLA’s data for free reuse”.

What does that mean, I wondered, all their data? All that’s easy to do? Does it include info from TransportForLondon (TfL), the Metropolitan Police? To be honest I sort of assumed it was Boris just paraphrasing. Nevertheless, I thought, it could be a good stick to enforce change later on.

However then it was Deputy Mayor Sir Simon Milton’s turn to give the more scripted, more plodding, more coherent version. This was the bit where we would find out what’s really going to happen. [What you need to realise that the GLA doesn’t actually have a lot of its own data – mostly it’s just some internal stuff, slices of central government data, and grouping of London council info. The good stuff is owned by those huge bodies, such as TfL and the Met, that it oversees.

So when Steve said: “I hope that our discussions with the GLA group will be fruitful and that in the short term we can encourage them to release that data which is not tied to commercial contracts and in the longer term encourage them when these contracts come up for renewal to apply different contractual principles that would allow for the release of all of their data into the public domain“, all I heard was yada yada yada.

The next bit, however, genuinely took me by surprise:

“I can confirm today, however, that as a result of our discussions around the Datastore, TfL are willing to make raw data available through the Datastore. Initially this will be data which is already available for re-use via the TfL website, including live feeds from traffic cameras, geo-coded information on the location of Tube, DLR and Overground stations, the data behind the Findaride service to locate licensed mini-cab and private hire operators and data on planned works affecting weekend Tube services.

“TfL will also be considering how best to make available detailed timetabling data for its services and welcomes examples of other data which could also be prioritised for inclusion in the Datastore such as the data on live departures and Tube incidents on TfL’s website”

So stunned was I in fact (and many others too) we that we didn’t ask any questions when he finished talking came to it , or for that matter congratulate Boris/Simon on the steps they were taking.

Yes, it’s nothing that hasn’t been done in Washington DC or San Francisco, and it isn’t as  big a deal as the Government’s open data announcement on December 7 (which got scandalously little press coverage, even in the broadsheets, yet may well turn out to be the most important act of this government).

However it is a huge step for local government in the UK and sets a benchmark for other local authorities to attain, and for the GLA to have achieved what it already has with Transport for London will only have come after a considerable trial of will, and one, significantly, that they won.

So, Simon & Boris, and all those who fought the battle with TfL, well done. Now let’s see some action with the other GLA bodies – the Met, London Development Agency, London Fire Brigade, he London Pensions Fund Authority in particular (I’m still trying to figure out its relationship to Visit London and the London Travel Watch).

Update: Video embedded below

Useful links:

• London Datastore
• List of packages that wil be available for full launch on Jan 29th
• Other blog posts on the event.
• Twitter channel