[Ica-osgeo-labs] Urban Science - City Analytics - The Road Map Challenge

Thu Feb 26 14:45:33 PST 2015

Charlie,
To try and answer your item 4, “Does anyone know of efforts in the past to try and create a collaborative network like this that were unsuccessful and why?”

The NSDI ‘Report Card’ is certainly relevant for strengths and weaknesses of government quasi-leadership, especially when it’s a toothless unfunded Executive Order.
(NSDI: National Spatial Data Infrastructure, https://www.fgdc.gov/nsdi/nsdi.html)

The Report Card:
http://www.cogo.pro/Home_Page.html

Different commentaries:
http://www.asprs.org/Press-Releases/Coalition-of-Geospatial-Organizers-COGO-Announces-the-Release-of-the-Report-Card-on-the-U-S-National-Spatial-Data-Infrastructure.html

http://geospatialworld.net/News/View.aspx?ID=31801_Article

http://geospatial-solutions.com/national-spatial-data-infrastructure-gets-a-c-grade/

We are being buried alive in data and information and yet still we try to make sense of it, AND chart a way forward that is efficient, effective and sustainable. This effort will only become more difficult to accomplish tomorrow, so we must make it work as best we can today! We need a Road Map (that’s not too hard) and then we need to act on it (that’s a little harder), but a world without results there will be even harder still!

-Patrick
(650) 604-5656 (office)
(650) 269-2788 (cell)

From: Charles Schweik [mailto:cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2015 5:56 AM
To: Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX)
Cc: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org; Jim Miller; Varun Chandola (chandola at buffalo.edu); MELICK Brandt; Gabor Remetey; Giuseppe Conti
Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] Urban Science - City Analytics - The Road Map Challenge

Hi Patrick, Chris, colleagues:

I'm working on a draft letter to one or more US NSF directorates to explore whether they would have interest in a full proposal to support an International Research Coordination Network on "Commons-based Peer Production for Urban Science and City Analytics". This email by Patrick provides a start to what the task of this RCN might be

Questions:

1) Is the OGC smart cities framework [1] that Patrick pointed out something we can use as a "foundation" for this network (I haven't yet read it fully, but it looks very useful)? Is there one or more people on this list who were involved in the development of that framework?

2) Can we define some focal areas of Smart Cities we'd want to concentrate on? Key application areas? For instance, the management of cities and regions for climate resilience might be one? Or support for the deployment of environmental sensors (e.g., water pollution monitoring, flood monitoring, etc)?

3) NSF, of course, is often looking for key, basic science, research questions that need to be addresses. Can we perhaps on the wiki come up with a list of really key research questions? There is a Research Questions section that is blank right now on the wiki [2]

4) Does anyone know of efforts in the past to try and create a collaborative network like this that were unsuccessful and why? I recall years ago an effort to develop collection action in local government open source (not geo specific) that failed - I forget what it was called. But answering the question of "why do we need this network?" is key. I have a lot to say but would welcome points here (perhaps on the wiki? [2])

Any reactions in response to the group or me individually are appreciated.

Charlie

[1] http://gisuser.com/2015/02/ogc-smart-cities-spatial-information-framework-white-paper-announced/
[2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_UrbanScience_CityAnalytics

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 2:36 AM, Hogan, Patrick (ARC-PX) <patrick.hogan at nasa.gov<mailto:patrick.hogan at nasa.gov>> wrote:
Dear OSGEO,

Urban Science - City Analytics is going to take a lot of work.
But I can't think of more fertile ground for engaging a world in a
mutually beneficial enterprise with practical and positive results than this.

How hard the climb will be a measure of how much we want to accomplish.
If easy, then not much, or maybe we really are all pulling each other up.

We need a groundswell for a world in mutually constructive dialogue, working in unison towards a common goal.
This is something our planet dearly needs at this very precarious time in one species' very short history (~150k years, we're just babes).
We are a species consuming resources at an unsustainable rate (a future in jeopardy),
and polluting our biosphere (our life support system) as if we didn't need it.

What Can We Do?
I hope we can design/architect an OSGEO software solution that excites the world community.
We need municipalities around the world engaged in a partnership with us and us with them.
What can we do for them? The OGC Smart Cities SI Framework and others is a big-picture bird's-eye view:
http://gisuser.com/2015/02/ogc-smart-cities-spatial-information-framework-white-paper-announced/
And also these:
http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/
http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/smarter_cities/overview/
There must be more of these, help us find them please!

Some Recent History:
When NASA took on the mantle of going to the Moon, there were several independent projects designing and testing their idea for a Moon-shot.
From that group some projects were selected to go forward while others were mined for their gems to go into the remaining projects.
This process continued until there was only one 'project,' Apollo. Apollo was not one program, but the cumulative result of several 'competing' projects.

Our Task:
We need to develop a road map, the requirements doc, for what this Urban Science - City Analytics (CitySmart) program looks like.
The requirements doc will likely be based on information in the 'framework' documents above
This road map needs to allows for some early successes so we can get buy-in from 'real' municipalities to work with us to keep value-added on target.
Then we will need a cadre of software development teams (or individuals) providing their solution in response to the road map.
As we collectively together evaluate these, some will be asked to mashup until in the end we have one OSGEO CitySmart app. This app will have an open API for the menu system, for drag-n-drop of functionalities, so that each city can tailor it for their use, and the world community can continue to optimize old functionalities and design new ones (proprietary or open source).

Who Will Do This?
Maybe we can ask an academic or other organization to provide us with the road map (specifications/requirements), such as these two:
http://sustainablecities.aau.dk/
https://rd-alliance.org/
If anyone knows of an organization or university who would be interested in designing the road map for city management per the 'framework' document links above, please let me know.

The Road Map Challenge (a proposal):
Here is 'a' plan (not 'the' plan, this 'plan' will change depending on feedback from all of us).
An OSGEO Challenge with a NASA crystal bull for the award, just like the Europa Challenge, http://eurochallenge.como.polimi.it/, and of course NASA T-shirts.
We need YOU (whoever you are) to design the requirements doc for the Urban Science - City Analytics (CitySmart) program.
We will rank these and the number one vote getter will get the crystal bull (after they mashup the best of what is in all of the road maps into theirs).
We will ask the Region and Theme Chairs to do the voting. http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll
And if there are special needs for the cities in the respective Regions, we need to hear about those requirements.

What Next?
The next challenge, the OSGEO SmartCity Challenge, will be to build according to those requirements and put a smile on the face of every municipality! And something the whole world can be proud of together, while experiencing the benefits of living in a smarter city. The City of Springfield Oregon has already shown us the path, http://www.nsdinow.org/SDI_Now_02/Technical_Support.html. Are there others?

-Patrick
 (650) 604-5656<tel:%28650%29%20604-5656> (office)
 (650) 269-2788<tel:%28650%29%20269-2788> (cell)

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--
Charlie Schweik

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and Administration

Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/

Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012) - see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545

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A: http://five.sentenc.es
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