Waterloo Region2014



This year, Open Data Waterloo Region again held an Open Data Day event.


 * Date: Saturday, 22 February 2014
 * Time: 10:00am to 4:30pm (iCal)
 * Location: Kwartzlab, 33 Kent Ave., Kitchener, Ontario (map)

= Results =

Dan and Mike from the IT Department of the City of Kitchener came to introduce their Open Data dataset. We had access to a preliminary release; the formal release will be held sometime in April.

Several projects were started or presented:
 * Mike Boos (@MikeBoos) showed off his Waterloo Region Open Data Browser for visualizing geospatial data (Data Visualization video on Archive.org, wr-opendata code on GitHub)
 * Myles Tan (@TanMyles) developed MapManual to enter the locations of bike racks at the University of Waterloo, so the data can be added to the UofW Open Data Catalogue (Blog post, MapManual code on GitHub, MapManual video on Archive.org)
 * Darcy Casselman (@Flying_Squirrel) used Food Premise Inspection data to create New Restaurant Alerts (New Restaurant Alerts video on Archive.org)
 * Yomna and Katherine worked on University of Waterloo data relating to calls received by University Security
 * Raul Saurez (@Rarsamx) used Big Data techniques to investigate correlations between arbitrary datasets
 * Bob Jonkman (@BobJonkman@sn.jonkman.ca) got absolutely no coding done, but helped document the day on Tumblr, Twitter and the Fediverse

More pictures at Ubuntu Canada's albums, OpenDataDay2014 Tumblr, and Videos on Archive.org.

= Planning =

Schedule (tentative)

 * 10:00 - Doors open
 * 10:15 to 10:45 - Intro and overview of available data sets
 * 11:00 to 11:30 - Presentation - interesting examples from elsewhere, and some useful tools & resources
 * 11:30 to 12:00 - Share what you might want to work on - existing or not
 * 12:00 to 4:00 - Coding / hacking / analysis (and lunch)
 * 4:00 to 4:10 - Announcements - upcoming open data events locally and nationally
 * 4:10 to 4:30 - Wrap-up - sharing what people have done

Online Events
Throughout the day we'll be dropping in on the WebRTC Video Chat at https://chatb.org/#OpenDataDay

See 2014/Online_Events for other participating cities.

Possible Projects

 * Add restaurant location data from Food Premise Inspection dataset to OpenStreetMap
 * Create an OpenStreetMap layer of event locations for the WatCamp Calendar
 * Add the Waterloo Region Trails dataset to OpenStreetMap
 * Add the Waterloo Region Cycling data to OpenStreetMap

Skills Needed
Open Data Day is not just about Hacking and Programming. We need people who can:
 * do Graphic Design
 * write Documentation
 * organize Big Data
 * do Research
 * understand Government
 * yes, Write Code too...
 * ... and anyone who is interested in learning about Open Data, no matter what your skill level or expertise!

Participants

 * Bob Jonkman (@BobJonkman on the OStatus network)
 * Nathan Vexler of University of Waterloo Open Data (@cartoon_nate on the twitter)

Ubuntu Local Communities is cross-promoting Open Data Day &mdash; Canadian Team members can register for this event at the Ubuntu Canada LoCo Portal.

About Open Data Waterloo Region
Open Data Waterloo Region was formed in 2011 and has worked with the Waterloo regional and municipal governments and the University of Waterloo to provide input on making and using Open Data. In May 2013 members of OpenDataWR assisted in putting on the GO Open Data conference in Waterloo Region.


 * Website: http://OpenDataWR.ca
 * Twitter: @OpenDataWR (use hashtags #ODD2014 and #dataWR)
 * Contact: [mailto:bjonkman@sobac.com?subject=About%20Open%20Data%20Waterloo%20Region%20%5Bbjns%5D bjonkman@sobac.com] and I'll pass it on...

Previous Open Data Day Events
Kitchener-Waterloo2013

Codefests

 * CodeFest 1, 12 March 2011
 * Spring OpenData CodeFest, 31 March 2012
 * City of Waterloo Open Data Codefest, 30 November and 1 December, 2012