I Talked to Alain Mercier

[Jonathan Rudenberg]

I have good news.

I just got off the phone with Alain Mercier, General Manager of OC
Transpo.

One of his goals is making sure that the data that customers see is
accurate. He explained that the current GPS feed does not reflect all
changes that are made to trips such as detours, mid-trip cancellations,
etc.

Right now they are supposed to be working really hard to roll out the
new Clever Devices system, which is supposed to be completely deployed
by the end of the year, and is much better. He's open to giving us
access to the current feed, but is wary of it delaying the rollout of
the Clever Devices system, because it's the same City IT team that would
need to do both.

He is totally open to releasing the data to us when the new system is
ready, and even suggested that we might do a pilot project and test the
data before it is released.

One consideration is the advertising revenue that would result from the
new "Realtime Messaging" platform that they are deploying with dynamic
ads. Apparently initial estimates were >1MM, and City Council is
pressuring him to make more money from advertising. He did say that
ultimately it's up to the Transit Commission to figure out if it should
be open data.

All this being said, good things are coming, and I'll be working with OC
Transpo on behalf of Open Data Ottawa to make sure that we can all come
to a reasonable arrangement. We'll be having a meeting in a week or two
to discuss what's next.

Cheers,

Jonathan

--
Jonathan Rudenberg | @titanous

[Jonathan Rudenberg]

Oh, forgot to mention that he had no idea about the display screens
using the realtime data. It seems like the City IT team did that on
their own.

Jonathan

[swf...@gmail.com]

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Jonathan Rudenberg <jona...@titanous.com> wrote:

Oh, forgot to mention that he had no idea about the display screens
using the realtime data. It seems like the City IT team did that on
their own.

Jonathan

That's the sort of goodness you get when you open up data -- people just do good stuff you never even thought about ;)

I'm amazed they think they can get as much as $1m from the advertising related stuff -- not to be sneezed at if at pans out.

However, I think they need to consider the lost revenue from not opening up the data -- eg open data allows people to create neat apps that make your service more attractive so you sell more bus tickets and give existing customers a better experience, which is what you are really there for.

Whatever, it sounds like it is all going in the right direction.   Excellent work Jonathon.

Also, this whole episode has generated a lot of great publicity for the open data concept.

John

[swf...@gmail.com]

A pilot project would be excellent.

Also, would be good to have API docs as soon as the thing is worked out -- even if it comes with a "not fixed in stone" caveat.

John

[Alex Lougheed]

Awesome.

Good job Jonathan. Lets get his comments on the public record, and throw OC a bunch of public open data love.

We should still go ahead with a transitcamp event. Lets get Alain and the rest of OC to be our biggest cheerleaders.

Alex
sent on the 7 St Laurent

[Jonathan Rudenberg]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:19 -0500, "swf...@gmail.com" <swf...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> However, I think they need to consider the lost revenue from not opening
> up
> the data -- eg open data allows people to create neat apps that make your
> service more attractive so you sell more bus tickets and give existing
> customers a better experience, which is what you are really there for.

He understands this and said that if he could make money by releasing
the data he's just as happy with that as well.

Jonathan

[Alex Lougheed]

What was the mood of the chat? Did he seem enthusiastic or beaten?

Great job.

[Jonathan Rudenberg]

On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:24 -0500, "Alex Lougheed" <alou...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> What was the mood of the chat? Did he seem enthusiastic or beaten?

Totally open. He explained the new system and how it was much better,
etc.

This is going to be a good partnership for both parties.

Jonathan

[swf...@gmail.com]

Great work -- make sure Alain gets credit in the press now that it seems to be heading the right way.

John

[Darren Kipp]

Yes I think this is an important trick with dealing with public officials...arrange for them to be the hero's at the end of the day.  Give them winning room.

I think going forward it would nice for us to have a sorta non-live version for testing so we can develop cool things have have them ready for launch.  This could play really well for OC too as they could make some big brew-ha about launching the thing and there would already be apps ready to go.

We could also position ourselves as a resource to them for getting things tested and ideas for the interface etc...

[Daniel Beauchamp]

Great job Jonathan. Sounds like the talk went very well.

db

[Michael Richardson]

>>>>> "Jonathan" == Jonathan Rudenberg <jona...@titanous.com> writes:
Jonathan> Oh, forgot to mention that he had no idea about the
Jonathan> display screens using the realtime data. It seems like the
Jonathan> City IT team did that on their own.

Yes, that's a major open-data SUCCESS.

This is often repeated thing about open-data, sometimes your major
customers are in the next cubicle, but didn't even know you had the
data.

--
] He who is tired of Weird Al is tired of life! | firewalls [
] Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works, Ottawa, ON |net architect[
] m...@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/ |device driver[
Kyoto Plus: watch the video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzx1ycLXQSE>
then sign the petition.

[Michael Richardson]

>>>>> "swfiua" == swfiua <swf...@gmail.com> writes:
swfiua> However, I think they need to consider the lost revenue from
swfiua> not opening up the data -- eg open data allows people to
swfiua> create neat apps that make your service more attractive so
swfiua> you sell more bus tickets and give existing customers a
swfiua> better experience, which is what you are really there for.

well, not until we get the list of active bus ticket sellers on a map :-)