A case for open data in transit

Within hours of Massachusetts Department of Transportation having opened up their transit data to the public, real-time bus locations were available on Google Earth. Within two days passengers could track bus locations on any internet connected computer. Within seven weeks real-time data could be accessed via mobile phones.

In this video by StreetFilms Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media and Web 2.0 thought leader, states that it is not the resposibility of governments and other data owners to provide services. Instead they should make their data readily available to the public. The community will take care of the rest, creating applications and coming up with new and innovative ways to use that data.

"Government should think of itself as the platform that society builds on, rather than government as a vending machine for actual service delivery. The idea of being a platform provider is that you do the least possible, not the most possible, to enable others to build on what you do."