make.opendata.ch: Mobility

  • Hackathon
Ankündigungsbild von opendata.ch für «make.opendata.ch: Mobiliät»

30–31 March 2012 @ Restaurant Falcone, Ballroom, Birmensdorferstrasse 150, 8003 Zürich

The call for open mobility, environmental, health, infrastructure and other government data, freely accessible to the public, received a big boost in spring 2012. The association Opendata.ch had invited people to the 2nd Swiss Make.opendata.ch Hackdays in Zurich and Geneva, and 120 hackers, designers, politicians and experts came together to work, by means of benign «hacks», on more efficient, more social – better – transport.

The Swiss Public Transport API (transport.opendata.ch) went live at the event; in under 24 hours twelve projects emerged, among them the «Transport Flows» visualisation that the NZZ later published in animated form. SBB saw the event as a platform for dialogue, and National Councillor Balthasar Glättli visited Zurich.

Photos

  • Participants working in a hall with MAKE posters, two men talking in front
  • Full room of participants at laptops, MAKE posters on the wall
  • Teams at tables with laptops, red MAKE posters on the wall
  • Group discussing at a table with notes and a laptop
  • Participants at laptops, in front a man wearing a T-shirt printed with the Geoinformation Act
  • SITG talk on the history of the Geneva geoportal
  • Speaker in front of a projection on mobility
  • Speaker pointing at a mobility diagram on the screen

Photo: giorgiop5 (Flickr), Thomas Amberg

Documentation and recordings

Projects

  • Transport Flows

    Visualisation of train flows across the SBB network over the day, based on swisstrains.ch timetable data; later published in animated form by the NZZ.

  • Tangible Statistics

    Statistics turned into 3D-printed objects (MakerBot): earrings, egg cups, chess pieces and a relief from Transport API data.

  • TrainSharingApp

    Mobile app and server API that shows which friends are on the same train.

  • GottaGo

    Tells you on a website, browser extension or Arduino lamp when to leave for your bus, tram or train; data from the Transport API.

  • Swiss Chronograph

    Connectivity index on the map of Switzerland, from an arrlee.eu distance matrix.

  • Data2Open

    Concept for a marketplace where the community shares anonymised smartphone data.

  • Vélo Genève

    Mobile app for cyclists in Geneva showing the officially recommended routes from SITG.

  • PMR-openfixmap

    Map where people with reduced mobility report obstacles, as a layer over OpenStreetMap.

  • Tower Track (Where's My Tower)

    Mobile web app that shows the nearest mobile phone antenna, from OFCOM location data.

  • Sieste

    Finds a quiet, healthy spot for a nap, using SITG noise, air and green-space data.

  • SITG 2 OSM

    Proof of concept for importing Geneva bicycle tracks from SITG into OpenStreetMap.

  • Public Transport jSignage

    Transport API timetable data rendered as SVG for public displays (jSignage).

Programme

Friday, 30 March

  1. 09:00
    Opening, coffee & croissants
  2. 09:30
    Input presentations
  3. Arduino Bus Stop Lamp

    Christian Leu
  4. Swiss Public Transport API

    Colin Frei
  5. Ville Vivante

    Benjamin Wiederkehr
  6. Google Transit

    Brian Ferris
  7. swisstrains.ch

    Joël Bez
  8. Tangible data with MakerBot

    Thomas Amberg
  9. arrlee.eu / OpenStreetMap

    André Lison
  10. 10:30
    Build teams around specific challenges
  11. 13:00
    Lunch break
  12. 17:30
    Interim presentations, assessment of data and know-how needs
  13. 18:00
    Dinner break
  14. 23:00
    Closing

Saturday, 31 March

  1. 09:00
    Opening, coffee & croissants
  2. 09:30
    Team reunions, matching of new participants with teams
  3. 12:00
    Lunch break
  4. 16:00
    Final presentations
  5. 17:00
    Closing
Read the original announcement

Switzerland pulses to the rhythm of its traffic arteries: road and rail, cyclists, drivers and public transport users not only generate large amounts of data, their behaviour is also largely steered by it – thanks to traffic management systems and real-time timetables. At a Mobility Hackday at the end of March, make.opendata.ch wants to explore the potential for innovation.

Mobility data are a sought-after basis for technological innovation and political decision-making alike. Unlike in other countries, in Switzerland they are all too often not publicly available or freely usable – a curiosity for a country with Switzerland's tradition of transport engineering. For some time, though, the situation has begun to change: software developers and designers, mobility planners and other experts are working more and more on open systems for better transport.

On 30 and 31 March, designers, thinkers and makers meet simultaneously in Zurich (Falcone) and Geneva (Haute école d'art et de design, HEAD) for the second make.opendata.ch hackdays, to explore together how open data can open up simpler, friendlier or more practical ways of using our transport infrastructure. In short talks and open workshops, users, providers and experts will design and build mobile apps, visualisations, web applications and mashups together. The event, held with the participation of SBB and Internet Briefing, is free of charge.

Organising team

  • Barnaby SkinnerZürich: Dokumentation (Foto, Wiki), Medien
  • Antoine LogeanGenf: Empfang, Moderation, Medien, Übersetzung
  • Giorgio PaulettoGenf: Empfang, Moderation, Medien
  • Oleg LavrovskyGenf: Empfang, Moderation

Host

  • Haute école d'art et de design de Genève (HEAD – Genève)

Sponsor

  • VTX Telecom
  • Internet-Briefing
  • Liip AG