TransportationCamp West: Urban planning and open information
Richard Masoner from Cyclelicio.us wrote up his experiences from TransportationCamp West.
Jay Nath opened Saturday’s conference talking about the importance of citizen participation in collaborative planning. His mission as Director of Innovation for the City & County of San Francisco is working toward standardizing and opening all non-confidential publicly-owned data.
Nash’s open data philosophy stands in sharp contrast to the status quo in most local and state governments. They own huge datasets that the public has already paid for, then charge private individuals again when they request this data. This lack of access and proprietary data formats hinders innovation, innovation that can help public agencies to serve their constituencies while also lowering their costs in providing these services.
Nash’s message to the audience: “Push your elected officials and let them know open data is important. Ask your representatives in city governments to show up these kinds of conferences.”
