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Data-Smart City Solutions recently released an online catalog of use cases about how data and analytics be used to enhance city operations and call for further cases and ideas.
In this catalog they list a number of challenges across four domains, Health & Human Services, Infrastructure, Public Safety and Regulation. For each challenge they provide use cases of civic data initiatives that have been created in order to address the specific challenge, and further link to the original solution. Examples include:
1. Where are potholes located? Boston’s Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics created a crowd-sourcing mobile app called Street Bump that helps residents improve their neighborhood streets by collecting road condition data while they drive. With StreetBump, citizen phones can report rough stretches of road to the City automatically as they drive over them, providing the City of Boston with a useful and cost-effective way of identifying which of its streets need work.
2. How can data sharing improve disaster response? The Greater Cincinnati area created Raven911, a regional map-based program designed to enhance situational awareness in times of disaster.
Several challenges are still waiting for best practice solutions to be provided. Through the platform, the public is called to contribute to closing this gap by providing innovative ideas and solutions.
About Data-Smart City Solutions: Housed in Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation of Harvard Kennedy School, this research group is working to catalyze adoption of data projects on the local government level by serving as a central resource for cities interested in this emerging field. They highlight best practices, top innovators, and promising case studies while also connecting leading industry, academic, and government officials.
Access the platform/catalog here.