Dashboards and Open data

A dashboard works its magic harnessing the power of open data. That is particularly true with a city dashboard. If you take a close look at any urban dashboard, you’ll notice it brings to its users a variety of open datasets, from metro schedules, weather broadcasts to air pollution levels and highway cameras. This is data from assorted sources, such as government departments and transport agencies. Imagine such data not being public, the development of an eclectic dashboard would not be possible.

In fact, open data brings about much more than dashboards. Open data is data free for the public and all sectors to access and make use of, usually provided by authorities. Open data means opening up opportunities and possibilities as nowadays, it’s all about data.

The power of data comes not from data itself, but rather, the knowledge and value distilled from it. It may sound a bit off but when you come to think of it, it’s just the case: data matters as much as the value it inspires the users. In other words, the importance of data depends on how you use it; if no meaning is extracted from the data, it remains little more than numbers.

When authorities open up an assortment of data, the public and private sectors are free to bestow meaning and value on the data, which in better cases inspire innovations and inventions. Such innovations may come in the forms of online and mobile applications, such as warning systems for flooding and air pollution, making use of open data from water gauges and the observatory. These are practices of turning raw open data into actionable knowledge, which comes to be used through mobile apps, online portals and obviously, dashboards.

That is why such applications as online portals, mobile applications and dashboards use the data to serve a purpose, cater to a need and accommodate different users. While a city dashboard harnesses the power of open data to serve at-a-glance information reviews to its users, open data users cash in on the presentation of a dashboard to make sense of open data itself. Interesting? Let’s explore dashboards and data visualisation next week!

What make a good dashboard?

This certainly is an interesting question: what make a good dashboard? Before being tempted to take a prompt attempt, let’s get back to what a dashboard is. A dashboard gathers streams of real-time data, where you have at one glance the current road traffic of main highways, status of key public transport, the stock market, hostel availability and weather (just to name a few). You can view a dashboard as a miniature city, where you have all the information necessary for you to act, navigate and make decisions.

A dashboard may come in different forms, city dashboards and personalised dashboards being the 2 major types. Our earlier blog post explores the traits of some city dashboards, such as London Dashboard and Venice Dashboard. If you look closer, they are all different. They differ not only in the streaming data contents, but also in what realms they incorporate as part of the dashboards. London Dashboard emphasises the traffic and transport, displaying information from traffic cameras, availability of bikes, subway status to buses and underground trains in service, which hints at its priority of urban mobility and commuting. In other words, a city dashboard lets us know a city’s priorities, and what its citizens are concerned about.

But if you come to think about it, it’s very natural: as a dashboard enables the citizens to make better decisions, it must supply information important to the citizens, which may be the realms of information making up part of their life. Obviously, a city dashboard cannot take up all the information, that’s why it must prioritise. How a dashboard prioritises by embedding certain realms of information into part of it while excluding others may shed light on what make a good dashboard.

It is vital for a dashboard to cater to its users, namely the public for city dashboards and the I for a personalised dashboard. So a dashboard varies from one another, be it a city dashboard or personal one. Apart from providing the information its citizens need, it is critical that a dashboard gives the right information, which points to the issue of accountability.

While good dashboards may vary from one another depending on a city and users, are there universal items every dashboard must incorporate? Perhaps that’ll be about public safety and mobility. Still there are uncertainties and possibilities, but along the evolution we’ll shape different dashboards and explore the different shapes of a city.

Dashboards and big data analytics






What does real-time mean?






Privacy concerns raised by big data





Urban dashboards: London and Venice

There are different smart city dashboards, the completest are London’s smart city dashboard and Venice’s smart city dashboard. Although those two dashboards share the aim of providing real-time data to help users to make better decisions and steer effectively, the two smart city dashboards are totally different and distinctive with their own features.

London’s smart city dashboard distinguishes itself with most of its parts in the transport domain, such as tube line status, transport in service, bike rental spots and traffic camera. It also highlights social issues such as mood and electricity. The focus of London’s dashboard on transport and social issues allows us to catch a glimpse of the city and its citizens. Studying London’s smart city dashboard is a good way to understand the city.

As for Venice’s smart city dashboard, it displays a wide array of real-time data available to the public, such as hotel availability, cruise arrival times, air quality and more. It is obvious that Venice’s smart city dashboard highlights elements essential to tourism. A smart city dashboard facilitates the understanding of a city and its citizens before moves to revolutionise its infrastructure

The distinctive features of a smart city dashboard show the highlights and even the essence of a city. Hong Kong Dashboard opens a door for us to explore the city and shape our own perspectives of it.

Smart city and Dashboard


