Open data holds the promise of making city governments run more smoothly for citizens and businesses. But with the promises come challenges, according to Esri’s new urban analytics chief.
Amen Ra Mashariki should know.
He comes to the Redlands tech company from New York City mayor’s office, where among the “operational challenges” he faced was creating a complete list of buildings with cooling towers, which were found to be the source of a 2015 Legionnaires disease outbreak.
He said that task taught him that data and analytics need to be matched with the expertise of experienced city workers on the ground, in this case, the New York City Fire Department and its knowledge of building regulations.
“Data and analytics doesn’t solve the problem. It supports and adds value to the people in your organization that do solve the problem,” he told an Esri audience in a lecture on the outbreak.
Open-data initiatives abound as cities seek ways to streamline their internal operations and better connect with residents.
Among the more ambitious is Los Angeles’ GeoHub, jointly announced two years ago this month by Mayor Eric Garcetti and Esri founder Jack Dangermond. It has apps for such topics as street cleanliness, construction, road work, and public health.
Long Beach unveiled its DataLB portal a year ago with apps for business licenses and public spending.
Redlands has its own initiative with 18 projects, including traffic light coordination.
Although many challenges are the same everywhere, West Coast cities have their own issues — wildfires, for instance.
“Each urban space has its own characteristics, has its own complexion. So the programs should be different,” Mashariki said in a phone interview.
Esri has responded with products intended for rapid data collection and simplified sharing.
But cities need to do more than put data online.
“There’s a supply and a demand,” Mashariki said. “We, meaning the cities, have focused on the supply side — that is getting data from agencies in these portals. There’s a demand side. … which is let’s get people interested in the data.”
Training often happens at community centers and schools, where leaders learn the tools and take them back to their communities.
Beyond that hurdle, Mashariki sees two issues that cities are starting to think about.
Data privacy: There’s a tension between open data and individuals’ rights. Mashariki said officials can be simultaneously pushing to get information out and making sure that health data protected by HIPAA rules never get out.
“A lot of people just assume because it’s open there doesn’t have to be any privacy protocols in place,” he observed.
Data bias: What happens when data creates a wrong impression?
As an example, he said, New York City releases data on 311, non-emergency calls for city services.
“We get a lot of 311 data around rodent sightings. So you imagine someone comes to the portal and says, ‘This is 311 data around all rodent sightings in New York City.’ But obviously, it’s not. It’s only people who know they can use 311 or use access to technology and tools to use 311.
“So one of the new discussions is how do we address the inherent bias in open data that we’re publishing.”
