London Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled a website that hosts hundreds of sets of data on London life, paving the way for developers to create ‘mashups’ of data.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) said that the London Datastore, which officially opens on January 29, will make the government more transparent and accountable.
“The superb new London ‘Datastore’ will unleash valuable facts and figures that been languishing for far too long in the deepest recesses of City Hall,” said Johnson. “I firmly believe that access to information should not just be the preserve of institutions and a limited elite. Data belongs to the people particularly that held by the public sector and getting hold of it should not involve a complex routine of jumping through a series of ever decreasing hoops.”
The data sets will include information on crime hotspots; house prices; road accidents; planning applications; school information, including pupil numbers and waiting lists; and hospital waiting lists.
Johnson said that London in following in the footsteps of several US cities in releasing data.
“The US has led the way on this idea of setting their data free for anyone – students, campaigners, software developers – to use,” Johnson said. “Now it’s time for Britain to get up to speed and I want London, as the greatest city in the UK, to be at the forefront of this revolution, that will not only increase democracy, but also provide a potential money-spinner for the city’s hugely important software development sector.”
The help promote the creation of data mashups, Channel 4 is launching a £200,00 prize fund for the most innovative application created via the London Datastore.
