[Open-data-census] government nuances and standard options

Fri Oct 4 20:57:06 BST 2013

I have to say when I first saw the census I assumed "Transport
Timetables" for Canada meant at any level of government.

By designing the survey to measure national-level, with the language
"Timetables of major government operated (or commissioned)
*national-level* public transport services (specifically bus and
train)." the census is rewarding countries with a strong
centrally-directed national transportation infrastructure.  There
doesn't seem to be a "not applicable to government structure" option.
The messaging around what the Census is measuring needs to be really
clear.

It's great that the Census now has editing and review options, but I'm
not sure what would apply to Canada.
I could argue exist yes, digital yes, public yes, free unknown, online
yes, machine-readable no, bulk yes?, open unknown, up-to-date yes.
http://www.viarail.ca/en/plan-your-trip/customize-your-train-schedule

But in Canada the national train service is an independent crown
corporation.  Is that "government operated"?  The distances are large
and the trains are slow, so most people fly.  From Halifax to Montreal
there's not a train every five minutes, or every hour.  There's one
train once a day three days a week.
http://www.viarail.ca/sites/all/files/media/pdfs/schedules/Summer2013/VL24458_4970-13_Timetable2013_ETE_30-31.pdf

On the other hand, Canadian municipal transit systems are well-used
and many have open data, as in e.g. City of Ottawa
http://www.octranspo1.com/developers

My concern is that if the Census is presented as a national-level
summary for comparison and policy-making, it's going to look like
Canada lags at Transport Timetables, when it's actually just because
the most-used transportation modes where most of the open data is
available are at a different level of government than the national
government, or are of a different type (airlines).

--
Richard Akerman
scilib at gmail.com
http://scilib.typepad.com/

Twitter: @scilib