Sarah Wray at TMForum: “The City of Copenhagen has launched its City Data Exchange to make public and private data accessible to power innovation.
The City Data Exchange is a new service to create a ‘marketplace for data’ from public and private data providers and allow monetization. The platform has been developed by Hitachi Insight Group.
“Data is the fuel powering our digital world, but in most cities it is unused,” said Hans Lindeman, Senior Vice President, Hitachi Insight Group, EMEA. “Even where data sits in public, freely accessible databases, the cost of extracting and processing it can easily outweigh the benefits.”
The City of Copenhagen is using guidelines for a data format that is safe, secure, ensures privacy and makes data easy to use. The City Data Exchange will only accept data that has been fully anonymized by the data supplier, for example.
According to Hitachi Insight Group, “All of this spares organizations the trouble and cost of extracting and processing data from multiple sources. At the same time, proprietary data can now become a business resource that can be monetized outside an organization.”
As a way to demonstrate how data from the City Data Exchange could be used in applications, Hitachi Insight Group is developing two applications:
- Journey Insight, which helps citizens in the region to track their transportation usage over time and understand the carbon footprint of their travel
- Energy Insight, which allows both households and businesses to see how much energy they use.
Both are set for public launch later this year.
Another example of how data marketplaces can enable innovation is the Mind My Business mobile app, developed by Vizalytics. It brings together all the data that can affect a retailer — from real-time information on how construction or traffic issues can hurt the footfall of a business, to timely reminders about taxes to pay or new regulations to meet. The “survival app for shopkeepers” makes full use of all the relevant data sources brought together by the City Data Exchange.
The platform will offer data in different categories such as: city life, infrastructure, climate and environment, business data and economy, demographics, housing and buildings, and utilities usage. It aims to meet the needs of local government, city planners, architects, retailers, telecoms networks, utilities, and all other companies and organizations who want to understand what makes Copenhagen, its businesses and its citizens tick.
“Smart cities need smart insights, and that’s only possible if everybody has all the facts at their disposal. The City Data Exchange makes that possible; it’s the solution that will help us all to create better public spaces and — for companies in Copenhagen — to offer better services and create jobs,” said Frank Jensen, the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen.
The City Data Exchange is currently offering raw data to its customers, and later this year will add analytical tools. The cost of gathering and processing the data will be recovered through subscription and service fees, which are expected to be much lower than the cost any company or city would face in performing the work of extracting, collecting and integrating the data by themselves….(More)”