Sensing SA: real-time data set for release
People may soon get access to data collected by the State Government’s vast array of sensors – including traffic and air quality stations – under the State Government’s new IT strategy, released this morning.
The roll-out of real-time bus GPS data is an example of the open data direction contemplated by the strategy.
“We’re looking at a thing called Sense SA or Sensor SA, which is around how do we better make available and use the multitude of information sources that now exist, particularly with everybody having their smartphones – they are measuring stuff,” the Government’s Chief Information Officer Andrew Mills said this morning.
“For example bike riders, using their app, measure where they go. So wouldn’t that be good if Government had that information where all the bike riders go and wouldn’t it be good that they could share it with other bike riders.”
Real time roadworks data and the ability to notify police online about car crashes are both currently being worked on by various Government departments.
The strategy is centred around a “digital by default” policy which will increasingly bring Government services online. People could expect most of their interactions with Government – paying fines, for example – to be done online in the future, Mills said.
The other key plank is using the internet to allow Government to reach out and engage with people through online surveys, forums and social media.
Problems with cross-Government IT have been highlighted several times in the last few months.
In one example, SA Water and the Department of Communities and Social Inclusion have been struggling to get their databases of users to talk to each other, leading to alleged concession overpayments of up to $50 million, InDaily has reported.
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Mills said current Government IT systems were up to the jobs they were built for, but admitted the need to share information was something that wasn’t contemplated when the systems were originally designed.
“I think the systems are adequate to do the business that they were built to do. I think the challenge is that the requirements are changing quite rapidly now, and the need to share more is becoming greater, and that will take some time to work through.
“But it’s not just an ICT system issue, it is a business issue a lot of it. A lot of it’s around how to share and the business models that we use, not just necessarily the ICT.”
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