At CartoDB we are fierce champions for open data! That is why our Grants for Good Program is supporting organizations and volunteers who advocate for more access to open data using innovative technology and crowdsourcing techniques. CartoDB work with stakeholders who are using open data and maps for research, business intelligence, deep analysis and better communication. We are happy to introduce you to our newest grantees who are blazing the trail in these spaces.
Bath: Hacked
Bath: Hacked is an established, community run open data project based in South West England. Their goal is to publish and use open data for the benefit of the local community, residents, and visitors to Bath and North East Somerset. Bath: Hacked has been working hard to not just publish data, but also run events and meetups to encourage the thriving tech community to build interesting and useful things using that data. Most of that data has a geographic element, which means that they are big fans of CartoDB! “This support will let us scale up our ambition for the types of services we are able to build. And, as a community owned and operated project, this type of investment lets us continue our mission,” says Bath: Hacked community member. They’ve used CartoDB to visualize traffic accidents, chart business growth in the area, map local population demographics, and area classifications from satellite imagery. They even produced a video tutorial that demonstrates how to use CartoDB with data from our datastore!
“We’re now designing our next tool, which will use our growing collection of open geographical data to build a tool that explores who owns and manages land in our area. This will support residents in requesting support and maintenance from our local government and housing associations, and also help community groups identify green spaces that could become the site for the next local community growing space,” says Bath: Hacked community member.
Datenna: China Innovation Intelligence
Datenna tracks, visualizes, and maps Chinese data related to science, technology, and innovation. They are in the process of building an interactive SaaS solution to offer services, like competitor intelligence and technology matchmaking, directly to their customers and help free the world from static reports.
Datenna wants to show all 300 State Key Labs (SKL), laboratories at Chinese universities and research institutes with special status, on an interactive map. Information collected about these SKLs include: their Chinese and English names, description, location (GPS), keywords, technology category, founding date, and parent organization.
They want users to be able to filter SKLs based on technology categories, explore how the amount of SKLs grew over time, and see which areas in China have more SKLs. Datenna has plans to expand to Chinese Engineering Research Centers (another 200~300 organizations) and to other similar facilities.
Datenna’s mapping project is in early stages but they have already put CartoDB to good use!
Bath: Hacked and Datenna are connecting citizens to the power of data and allowing for deeper insight into the innovation and technology sectors… Keep up the great work!
Happy Data Mapping!