The SmartPGH Data Utility
Making Data Work for Us
SmartPGH is an opportunity to further develop the City’s already leading reputation in open data by collecting and distributing more data. We’re building on what we’ve already done to assist the SmartPGH Consortium partners in creating an open data ecosystem. The Data Utility offers a platform and a process framework to collectively make decisions, recognize economies of scale, and create standards regarding the transmission of data.
Coordinating this public data will be a useful element of the ‘urban laboratory’ model supported by Mayor Peduto. As part of this model, students, developers and researchers work with the City to address public challenges and offer a foundation to further innovation by the private sector.
Storage to Dissemination
The SmartPGH Consortium model allows partners to select data storage options that best meet their needs, collecting and storing datasets based on cost-effectiveness or efficiency. The Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC) will provide Consortium partners with training and assistance and serve the Consortium as a public data portal. New data created as a result of the SmartPGH initiative will be accessible alongside existing housing, environmental, public safety, and other data types, and will be scaled as additional datasets are brought online.
Application Development
In order to ensure that the City and Consortium members receive the decision-support tools they need, Carnegie Mellon University’s Mobility Data Analytics Center (MAC) will be recruited to serve as an ‘on-call’ application developer for the SmartPGH Consortium. In developing these decision tools, MAC will assist the City and the Consortium in interpreting information to make better decisions in the public interest.
MovePGH
MovePGH is an app that will allow people to view comparable options across different modes of transportation一such as public transportation, taxi, bikeshare, carshare, biking, walking, and driving and parking. The app will also encourage users to record their trips to provide the City with additional mobile sensors for pedestrian, cycling, vehicular, and transit movements and planning.