Click, and City Appears

Concept of urban governance using dashboards that have city's data is gaining ground all over the world. Bengaluru-based organisation is working on one for this city but there is much work to be done, say experts.

BENGALURU: A city dashboard – that online space where all kinds of data about a city are hosted in one place – has become the next level of urban governance. From real-time traffic situation and daily area-wise crime stats to constant updates on completion of big and small civic projects, data on such platforms drives the functioning of many cities in the West. Such data, presented in an intelligent and comprehensible way, aims to help citizens make their day-to-day decisions and to monitor a city's machinery.

How about a similar data map for Bengaluru? A city-based non-profit is working on a plan to build such a dashboard in another two years. There are also a number of organisations who are working on open data. But much work is needed. "Say a pedestrian wants to take a walk in a part of the city. He or she wants to know the condition of lighting on a particular street or the number of crimes that have taken place on that day or week in that area and then decide to go ahead. Such minute details can be seen through a city dashboard, accessible from a website or through an app," says Sumit Arora, senior product manager, JanaOnline, Janaagraha, which is building the dashboard.

The organisation has been working in the area of urban governance in the city for quite some time now and has already collected data on various aspects of the city's functioning, adds Sumit. The organisation recently developed an app as part of the Swacch Bharat Mission for grievance redressal of civic issues, that already has 1 million downloads says Sumit. It also conducts the "Ward Quality Scores" that aims to measure the quality of life through various indicators such as sanitation, mobility and public amenities, to name a few. A number of initiatives related to the city's budget allocation and finances are also regularly taken up. The Smart City initiative of the central government also mentions city dashboards as a tool for governance.

Bengaluru First

A number of cities in the US such as New York, Detroit, Boston have city dashboards. Amsterdam, London and recently Dublin are also other cities that have the same. In India, Surat collaborated with Microsoft in launching a city dashboard in 2014. In March this year, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramiah inaugurated a dashboard called Prati Bimba, but it is mostly related to the performance of the government and progress of projects in the state. Sumit says, "Since our base is in Bengaluru, we will first build it for the city and then proceeded to build dashboards for other cities as well."

Open data could be used to make more detailed dashboards

"We have basic data on a number of functions but this is still very less. The government has a lot of data and we need to either get these from them or work along with them," says Sumit Arora of JanaOnline. Naresh Narisimhan, an architect, and urban expert, points out that a number of private organisations, crowdsourcing initiatives and other open platforms are working in the field of open data that could aid in the making of a city dashboard. Such efforts are however too fragmented as of now he points out. There is a need for such entities to come together and share data. Although the government is the biggest source of data, Naresh equates getting info out of them to "pulling out someone's teeth." "There should be an open repository of data for the city. Political will for such an initiative is required. One cannot file RTIs to get information everytime," he adds.

'Government needs to give more freedom'

Sunil Abraham, executive director of Centre for Internet and Society, however is of the opinion that the government is making open data available through measures such as the National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (NDSAP), which aims to provide data of various government agencies in the public domain. At the state level, he gave the example of Sikkim and Telangana, that have their open-government data initiatives.

He, however, says that in certain areas there is a need for the government to relax the rules. "For example, there are some restrictions for organisations and individuals in making their own maps. The government can notify the sensitive areas and can make a universal prohibitory list of such areas and allow people to proceed," he says.

Sunil says that whether it be the government or private organisation, rather than just city dashboards, it necessary to look beyond such limited constraints. "If a data set can be useful, it can be used by all. Then innovation starts with the private sector making apps and other tools to use that data. The power of open data must be fully used," he says.