Next Wednesday, I'll be on a panel at the MTA Developers Unconference. I'm very much looking forward to the event, because among other things, one of my fellow panelists will be the new MTA Chief, Jay Walder. Here, I'll give an overview of what I'm hoping to discuss on the panel; any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Before I get to that, though, I should note that it's been an interesting journey working with MTA on its open data and developer relations policies over the past year. In a nutshell, it's gone from a highly contentious situation, to an atmosphere of open collaboration. Almost exactly one year ago, here at OpenPlans we were beginning to experiment with the problem of tracking buses through the city. That led us to dip our toes in the world of transit data -- since you need to know the routes and schedules to do tracking and predicting -- and introduced us to some of the challenges in getting accurate and up-to-date NYC bus schedule data. Over the next 9 months, we engaged with the NYC transit developer community and the MTA to help work through the issues standing in the way of open MTA data. We were very pleased when they announced in January that they'd be launching a developer outreach and open data program. We believe that most of the credit for making this dramatic change happen goes to Chairman Walder and his conviction that open data would lead to innovation and ultimately better service for riders. In his words at the time of the MTA dev center launch: "We need to get out of our own way and instead get out in front of the data sharing revolution" (via Second Avenue Sagas). But I'd also like to personally thank Nick Bergson-Shilcock, David Turner, and the rest of the transit team here at OpenPlans for their hard and important work in helping to organize the NYC transit developer community, and in helping to identify and work through the sticking points regarding open data policy with the MTA. Back in August 2009, I got an email from Nick to the effect of "This is going to be really big, and we need to step up and get involved." That prompted us to start the NY Transit Data Meetup, and develop a more serious and structured conversation about open data with the MTA and the developer community. Thanks Nick; you were right (as usual), and I'm really happy that I listened to you (as usual). Fast forward to today. MTA has open data, a growing developer community, and is iterating. From our perspective, they seem to be heading in the right direction. So, that begs the question, what should they focus on next? Here are a few things that I'll be interested in hearing about & talking about on Wednesday:
Within MTA, which datasets would be the next easiest to expose? Of those, which would be the most interesting to developers?
What can we do to increase data sharing among other regional transit agencies? Last I checked, NJ Transit was the largest agency without open data according to City-Go-Round.
Let's think beyond just transit data to transportation data. When it comes to planning trips, modes should be abstracted out of search. What other datasets (outside of the ones in the MTA's control) would be required to make some really interesting things possible? (I'm thinking DOT for traffic, TLC for taxi data, paratransit, etc.)
Real-time. MTA has been piloting real-time bus location data on 34th street. Would love to see the L train and 6 train in future pilots.
(Imaginary readers out there...) If you could ask Chairman Walder one question, what would it be?
That's it. Have a great weekend, and here's to smart transportation and open, interoperable cities... // Heart shaped subway map by ZEROPERZERO
After many moons of plotting and scheming, yesterday we announced our organizational rebranding: The organization formerly known as The Open Planning Project (or TOPP) is now OpenPlans. I am excited, and I think this is a welcome development.
For years, there has been mass confusion (chaos! pandemonium!) around our name. Our emails were @openplans.org, our website was topp.openplans.org (until 2009), and our name was the Open Planning Project. To top it off, for several years, we ran a separate web service called OpenPlans (now under new management as CoActivate). As I've mentioned before, I've never been comfortable with these conflicting brands and identities, and I'm psyched that we've finally made the leap.
Here's a quick look into where we ended up, and how we got there.
First, we've updated our logo. Designed by the spectacularly fabulous Andy Cochran, it's similar to our old logo, but with cleaner lines and more meaning. It probably goes without saying, but we've got the "O" and the "P" in there, and the shape is a broken circle, evoking open processes:
For comparison, here's the logo that we'd been using for the past year or so. In order to minimize confusion between OpenPlans (the service) and The Open Planning Project the organization, we spent most of 2009 using our organizational nickname, TOPP, more prominently in our identity. While "TOPP" is easy to say and remember, as with most acronyms, it's pretty meaningless on its own. I'm sure it will take us a while to erase TOPP from our vocabularies, but I think it's the right move.
To round out the logo history, here's the one that was in service through 2008. I like it, however for the twenty- and thirty-somethings in the room, "OPP" means something a bit different (can you say "harm me with harmony"?).
Of course, to go along with the rebrand, we've updated the OpenPlans website, attempting to streamline our messaging along with our logo & brand. We've been struggling with a meaningful, succinct tagline for quite some time, and for now have settled on "We make cities work better." A while back, I wrote about the idea of "making cities easier to use" -- since then, we've taken that idea and adapted it a bit. Making cities work better is a better representation of our intentions, as it's multi-directional (i.e., we're not just "using" cities), and it hints at the digital infrastructure that we're building. Also, for the first time, I think we've successfully articulated how our software development, technology strategy and journalism activities are connected, as part of what we're calling "the new civic infrastructure." Lastly, a major goal of the redesign was to make it more clear what we do and how people can work with us. I guess now we just sit back and wait for the contracts to roll in... Here's what the website looks like today:
And for another trip on the Wayback Machine, here's a look at 2009:
2008:
and 2007:
That's it. Hello, OpenPlans. Nice to meet you.
Next Wednesday, I'll be on a panel at the MTA Developers Unconference. I'm very much looking forward to the event, because among other things, one of my fellow panelists will be the new MTA Chief, Jay Walder. Here, I'll give an overview of what I'm hoping to discuss on the panel; any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Before I get to that, though, I should note that it's been an interesting journey working with MTA on its open data and developer relations policies over the past year. In a nutshell, it's gone from a highly contentious situation, to an atmosphere of open collaboration. Almost exactly one year ago, here at OpenPlans we were beginning to experiment with the problem of tracking buses through the city. That led us to dip our toes in the world of transit data -- since you need to know the routes and schedules to do tracking and predicting -- and introduced us to some of the challenges in getting accurate and up-to-date NYC bus schedule data. Over the next 9 months, we engaged with the NYC transit developer community and the MTA to help work through the issues standing in the way of open MTA data. We were very pleased when they announced in January that they'd be launching a developer outreach and open data program. We believe that most of the credit for making this dramatic change happen goes to Chairman Walder and his conviction that open data would lead to innovation and ultimately better service for riders. In his words at the time of the MTA dev center launch: "We need to get out of our own way and instead get out in front of the data sharing revolution" (via Second Avenue Sagas). But I'd also like to personally thank Nick Bergson-Shilcock, David Turner, and the rest of the transit team here at OpenPlans for their hard and important work in helping to organize the NYC transit developer community, and in helping to identify and work through the sticking points regarding open data policy with the MTA. Back in August 2009, I got an email from Nick to the effect of "This is going to be really big, and we need to step up and get involved." That prompted us to start the NY Transit Data Meetup, and develop a more serious and structured conversation about open data with the MTA and the developer community. Thanks Nick; you were right (as usual), and I'm really happy that I listened to you (as usual). Fast forward to today. MTA has open data, a growing developer community, and is iterating. From our perspective, they seem to be heading in the right direction. So, that begs the question, what should they focus on next? Here are a few things that I'll be interested in hearing about & talking about on Wednesday:
Within MTA, which datasets would be the next easiest to expose? Of those, which would be the most interesting to developers?
What can we do to increase data sharing among other regional transit agencies? Last I checked, NJ Transit was the largest agency without open data according to City-Go-Round.
Let's think beyond just transit data to transportation data. When it comes to planning trips, modes should be abstracted out of search. What other datasets (outside of the ones in the MTA's control) would be required to make some really interesting things possible? (I'm thinking DOT for traffic, TLC for taxi data, paratransit, etc.)
Real-time. MTA has been piloting real-time bus location data on 34th street. Would love to see the L train and 6 train in future pilots.
(Imaginary readers out there...) If you could ask Chairman Walder one question, what would it be?
That's it. Have a great weekend, and here's to smart transportation and open, interoperable cities... // Heart shaped subway map by ZEROPERZERO
After many moons of plotting and scheming, yesterday we announced our organizational rebranding: The organization formerly known as The Open Planning Project (or TOPP) is now OpenPlans. I am excited, and I think this is a welcome development.
For years, there has been mass confusion (chaos! pandemonium!) around our name. Our emails were @openplans.org, our website was topp.openplans.org (until 2009), and our name was the Open Planning Project. To top it off, for several years, we ran a separate web service called OpenPlans (now under new management as CoActivate). As I've mentioned before, I've never been comfortable with these conflicting brands and identities, and I'm psyched that we've finally made the leap.
Here's a quick look into where we ended up, and how we got there.
First, we've updated our logo. Designed by the spectacularly fabulous Andy Cochran, it's similar to our old logo, but with cleaner lines and more meaning. It probably goes without saying, but we've got the "O" and the "P" in there, and the shape is a broken circle, evoking open processes:
For comparison, here's the logo that we'd been using for the past year or so. In order to minimize confusion between OpenPlans (the service) and The Open Planning Project the organization, we spent most of 2009 using our organizational nickname, TOPP, more prominently in our identity. While "TOPP" is easy to say and remember, as with most acronyms, it's pretty meaningless on its own. I'm sure it will take us a while to erase TOPP from our vocabularies, but I think it's the right move.
To round out the logo history, here's the one that was in service through 2008. I like it, however for the twenty- and thirty-somethings in the room, "OPP" means something a bit different (can you say "harm me with harmony"?).
Of course, to go along with the rebrand, we've updated the OpenPlans website, attempting to streamline our messaging along with our logo & brand. We've been struggling with a meaningful, succinct tagline for quite some time, and for now have settled on "We make cities work better." A while back, I wrote about the idea of "making cities easier to use" -- since then, we've taken that idea and adapted it a bit. Making cities work better is a better representation of our intentions, as it's multi-directional (i.e., we're not just "using" cities), and it hints at the digital infrastructure that we're building. Also, for the first time, I think we've successfully articulated how our software development, technology strategy and journalism activities are connected, as part of what we're calling "the new civic infrastructure." Lastly, a major goal of the redesign was to make it more clear what we do and how people can work with us. I guess now we just sit back and wait for the contracts to roll in... Here's what the website looks like today:
And for another trip on the Wayback Machine, here's a look at 2009:
2008:
and 2007:
That's it. Hello, OpenPlans. Nice to meet you.
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