The London Datastore turns 13 so here are 13+ data services important to Londoners (plus, what’s next for 2023…)
Today we mark the 13th anniversary of the city’s central data platform, the London Datastore and to celebrate we’ve listed 13 data-enabled services changing the lives of Londoners for the better:
1 - The London Datastore currently has around 2,000 open and non-open shareable datasets. These are regularly used by public bodies, research institutions and businesses to understand London’s economy, demographics & environment and produce maps and digital services to improve the city.
2- Using data from central government, City Hall’s Coronavirus Hub was viewed over 5 million times in its first 9 months — or 20,000 times a day — providing a trusted source of information about the spread of the virus, vaccination rates and mortality in London during the pandemic.
3- City Hall’s Infrastructure Mapping Application (below) allows over 26 utilities and public authorities to share data on street works. to better target investment and minimise disruption by coordinating street-works. This data has saved 426 days of disruption on the road network, £860k in construction costs and added wider benefits of £4.1m.
4- The National Underground Asset Register is a digital map of underground assets that helps excavators avoid costly delays and dangerous utility strikes. 150 organisations have securely shared their data, and 31 of London’s 33 local authorities have provided data, and over half have signed the long-term data sharing agreement. The platform will go live in March 2023.
5- Safestats shares 18m data points from the last 10 years around crime and community safety data from the police, NHS and transport agencies securely in one place for authorised users. It allows agencies to get a rounded picture of crime hotspots and undertake specific projects for deeper insights, for example sharing anonymised emergency department assault data from London’s A&Es between public agencies.
6- The new Planning Datahub for the first time delivers a live data feed of development proposals in London from boroughs and applicants and is the most advanced planning data system in the country. The service now holds open data on thousands of development proposals from London’s 34 planning authorities. Here’s an illustration of the residential pipeline feed:
7- The Property Licence Checker allows Londoners to find out whether their current or potential rental property fits the criteria for licensing and immediately report unlicensed properties to their borough.
8- The Cultural Infrastructure Map charts thousands of London’s venues, theatres, museums and recording studios and is a vital resource for those looking to protect, grow and make use of our cultural facilities.
9- City Hall and Imperial recently expanded the Breathe London network of hyperlocal air quality monitoring sensors, with new sensors installed at hospitals, schools and other priority locations across London delivering real time air quality data to Londoners:
10- The innovative High Streets Data Service understands how neighbour economies have been impacted by the pandemic, lockdown and cost of living crisis across the capital’s 600 high streets by using spend and footfall data purchased collectively by the GLA for London’s boroughs.
11- The Datastore gave rise to TfL’s open data on Tube, buses, roads, cycling, air quality and accessibility. A 2018 study showed how (then) TfL data supports an ecosystem of over 600 software developers and brings over £130m of added value to London.
12- Data fuels TfL’s world-leading innovation work on road safety and congestion, including Go Jauntly — an award winning new healthy walking app — and work with corporates like Mercedes Benz partnered with TfL to create a digital tool to identify higher risk locations prior to an incident taking place by using cars-as-sensors.
13- London’s Cycling Infrastructure Database is the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of cycling infrastructure, containing full details of cycling infrastructure in the capital.
We’re really excited about what the next year promises and to fulfil the Mayor’s manifesto commitments to rebuild the London Datastore to be the central register linking data across our city and work with partners to join up data on projects to serve the public.
Working with the new Data for London Board and our partners TPX Impact we expect a minimum viable product (MVP) of the new Data for London platform (the new name for the London Datastore) by early summer 2023. Alongside this, we’ll establishing a medium term plan to:
improve city-wide information governance do data can we shared legally and effectively
establish the platform formally as common register linking city datasets across public sector & partners
create data ethics templates to enable public engagement, understanding and trust in the use of data, and establish a Data Protection Impact Assessment register for smart city deployments
set data standards and design common approaches to getting better public value from data
spread data literacy to empower decision-makers, workers and citizens with the data skills they need
enable easier to access datasets and open data on the platform and showcase real-world benefits to Londoners
support London’s data users to come together to share ideas, experiences using the platform in a new community of practice
set data challenges to meet city outcomes, like Net Zero, by identifying important data questions to make delivery more effective
Our mission is to join-up city data to build a better London for everyone.
Our overall objective is — by 2027- for Londoners and those that serve them the ability to access, share and combine data required to address important urban challenges: supporting a fairer, safer and greener city for all. We will do this by active engagement with data users and the public so the platform we build can change with user needs, and the approach the city takes is inclusive, effective and responsible. We think there is a great opportunity to improve the scale and helpfulness of data-enabled services, working with the tech sector, universities and civil society on the delivery of Net Zero programmes, tackling inequality/cost-of living, youth violence and boosting growth and jobs.
Please get in touch with us if you’d like to know more (@LDN_CDO) or want to be more involved.
