The last post about process got me thinking. Does anyone know if there
is an example or standard for publishing local city's process flows in
a machine readable format? Let me give you a little background on this
question and hopefully shed some light it. In November, when Open
Chattanooga was launching our Open Data Catalog, one of the coders
asked if there database of all the services the city provides. She was
trying to get her head around the type of services, data and potential
applications that could be of use to citizens. This got me thinking
about the thousands of little and big things that cities do that
almost no one knows about. Even working within a city, as I do, I know
only my small piece of the pie.
Around the same time some local neighborhood associations and
development corporations were looking for information about city owned
and tax sale properties. I did a little research and uncovered a
pretty convoluted system making it almost impossible to figure out the
process, let along track down the data. This got me thinking about the
need for not just a catalog of services but also processes so citizens
can navigate what can be pretty complex systems to get what they need.
Having all this mapped out would also be helpful in streamlining
processes, databases and applications so that they work better as a
coherent whole instead of the silos we see today. My idea behind
making it machine readable is that you could both develop APIs to
build local custom web apps / flow diagram visualizations and share
process flow information between cities. This would be something akin
to "open sourcing" the business process, so that cities can learn from
and build off each other.
Has anyone else been thinking along these lines? Are there any good
case studies / applications you could point me to? If not, I would
love to hear the thoughts of the Civic Commons community.
I don't know of anything like this, but it is definitely something I've thought about in the context of urban planning. There are standard formats for things like flow charts; maybe that's a good place to start looking?
> The last post about process got me thinking. Does anyone know if there > is an example or standard for publishing local city's process flows in > a machine readable format? Let me give you a little background on this > question and hopefully shed some light it. In November, when Open > Chattanooga was launching our Open Data Catalog, one of the coders > asked if there database of all the services the city provides. She was > trying to get her head around the type of services, data and potential > applications that could be of use to citizens. This got me thinking > about the thousands of little and big things that cities do that > almost no one knows about. Even working within a city, as I do, I know > only my small piece of the pie.
> Around the same time some local neighborhood associations and > development corporations were looking for information about city owned > and tax sale properties. I did a little research and uncovered a > pretty convoluted system making it almost impossible to figure out the > process, let along track down the data. This got me thinking about the > need for not just a catalog of services but also processes so citizens > can navigate what can be pretty complex systems to get what they need. > Having all this mapped out would also be helpful in streamlining > processes, databases and applications so that they work better as a > coherent whole instead of the silos we see today. My idea behind > making it machine readable is that you could both develop APIs to > build local custom web apps / flow diagram visualizations and share > process flow information between cities. This would be something akin > to "open sourcing" the business process, so that cities can learn from > and build off each other.
> Has anyone else been thinking along these lines? Are there any good > case studies / applications you could point me to? If not, I would > love to hear the thoughts of the Civic Commons community.
I like it. In NYC, DoITT has a Services Catalog of IT services (apps & infrastructure) that it makes available to other city agencies, and of course we now effectively have an (open) Data Catalog, but I don't know of a resident-facing Services Catalog.
On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 8:34 AM, Nick Grossman <n...@civiccommons.org>wrote:
> I don't know of anything like this, but it is definitely something I've > thought about in the context of urban planning. There are standard formats > for things like flow charts; maybe that's a good place to start looking?
> On Jan 26, 2012, at 12:44 PM, Tim Moreland <aplannersgu...@gmail.com> > wrote:
> > The last post about process got me thinking. Does anyone know if there > > is an example or standard for publishing local city's process flows in > > a machine readable format? Let me give you a little background on this > > question and hopefully shed some light it. In November, when Open > > Chattanooga was launching our Open Data Catalog, one of the coders > > asked if there database of all the services the city provides. She was > > trying to get her head around the type of services, data and potential > > applications that could be of use to citizens. This got me thinking > > about the thousands of little and big things that cities do that > > almost no one knows about. Even working within a city, as I do, I know > > only my small piece of the pie.
> > Around the same time some local neighborhood associations and > > development corporations were looking for information about city owned > > and tax sale properties. I did a little research and uncovered a > > pretty convoluted system making it almost impossible to figure out the > > process, let along track down the data. This got me thinking about the > > need for not just a catalog of services but also processes so citizens > > can navigate what can be pretty complex systems to get what they need. > > Having all this mapped out would also be helpful in streamlining > > processes, databases and applications so that they work better as a > > coherent whole instead of the silos we see today. My idea behind > > making it machine readable is that you could both develop APIs to > > build local custom web apps / flow diagram visualizations and share > > process flow information between cities. This would be something akin > > to "open sourcing" the business process, so that cities can learn from > > and build off each other.
> > Has anyone else been thinking along these lines? Are there any good > > case studies / applications you could point me to? If not, I would > > love to hear the thoughts of the Civic Commons community.
The first thing most people see when interacting with the Open311 GeoReport API is the services catalog. You can see examples of these and the service definitions for all the cities that serve the API here:
NYC doesn't yet support the Open311 GeoReport API, so they don't have a list or an open API to submit requests for these services, but they do have a proposal for the Open311 Inquiry API which exposes read only information about services and city facilities:
The thing with the GeoReport services is that they don't describe a multi-stage interaction, just one stage. There are different services definitions with are each submitted as defined, but from there the only response the requester receives is the status of response to that one, they wouldn't get a response to submit more information for a subsequent stage in the process. This is definitely on the radar for how to move the spec forward though.
I also think that some cities will be experimenting with this kind of workflow using the API internally before we see it exposed to citizens. There's already a proposed model of having a hierarchy of GeoReport APIs that delegate to one another, so you'd have one API endpoint for the whole city, but those might get delegated to a different internal GeoReport APIs for each agency depending on the type of service requested.
> I like it. In NYC, DoITT has a Services Catalog of IT services (apps & > infrastructure) that it makes available to other city agencies, and of > course we now effectively have an (open) Data Catalog, but I don't know of > a resident-facing Services Catalog.
> On Mon, Jan 30, 2012 at 8:34 AM, Nick Grossman <n...@civiccommons.org>wrote:
>> I don't know of anything like this, but it is definitely something I've >> thought about in the context of urban planning. There are standard formats >> for things like flow charts; maybe that's a good place to start looking?
>> On Jan 26, 2012, at 12:44 PM, Tim Moreland <aplannersgu...@gmail.com> >> wrote:
>> > The last post about process got me thinking. Does anyone know if there >> > is an example or standard for publishing local city's process flows in >> > a machine readable format? Let me give you a little background on this >> > question and hopefully shed some light it. In November, when Open >> > Chattanooga was launching our Open Data Catalog, one of the coders >> > asked if there database of all the services the city provides. She was >> > trying to get her head around the type of services, data and potential >> > applications that could be of use to citizens. This got me thinking >> > about the thousands of little and big things that cities do that >> > almost no one knows about. Even working within a city, as I do, I know >> > only my small piece of the pie.
>> > Around the same time some local neighborhood associations and >> > development corporations were looking for information about city owned >> > and tax sale properties. I did a little research and uncovered a >> > pretty convoluted system making it almost impossible to figure out the >> > process, let along track down the data. This got me thinking about the >> > need for not just a catalog of services but also processes so citizens >> > can navigate what can be pretty complex systems to get what they need. >> > Having all this mapped out would also be helpful in streamlining >> > processes, databases and applications so that they work better as a >> > coherent whole instead of the silos we see today. My idea behind >> > making it machine readable is that you could both develop APIs to >> > build local custom web apps / flow diagram visualizations and share >> > process flow information between cities. This would be something akin >> > to "open sourcing" the business process, so that cities can learn from >> > and build off each other.
>> > Has anyone else been thinking along these lines? Are there any good >> > case studies / applications you could point me to? If not, I would >> > love to hear the thoughts of the Civic Commons community.
