2 local government platforms someone should just build

28 April 2016

1) Where things are (as a platform)

Reuse the datastore and editing tools behind open streetmap and use it to start managing geographical data (parks, opening times, protected views, lamposts) for a single council. Then give a login to people from other councils and get them to do the same. Use the tagging system to drive out what is common between councils and what differs

2) Things that are happening at a location (as a platform)

Lots of local notices (planning applications, parking suspensions, licencing applications) can be boiled down to:

A thing is going to happen

Here’s a description of that thing happening

  • It’s happening at 51.5007, -0.1246
  • It’s happening at 2016-04-28
  • It was a thing of type X
  • Here’s a link to more information about the thing: http://example.org Someone should build something that handles this use-case and encourage others to use it. There would be immediate value without getting bogged down in modelling every possible type of planning application and process (that should come later).