We know about almost everything, claims Praha. It has received awards for its reliance on data for planning
Where there is a lot of greenery in the city, where how many cars pass by, the exact location of utility networks, noise maps or perhaps real estate price maps. Hundreds of data sets from various areas of life in the Czech metropolis are provided on the portals of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development (IPR). And he uses them to plan the development of the city and individual districts as best as possible. And it is at the top of the world. At least according to the company that supplies systems for working with data to cities and institutions around the world.
Esri is the largest international supplier of geographic information systems software and holds about forty-one percent of the geographic information systems market. “I would compare it, for example, to Microsoft in the field of operating systems. It is simply the largest company dealing with these systems. They deliver software to two hundred countries around the world and to 350,000 organizations, both public and private. Every year, users hold a conference where they talk about new products, and specific projects are always awarded as part of it,” says Ondřej Boháč, director of the Institute of Planning and Development.
And it was this company in Prague, namely the Institute of Planning and Development, that at its annual conference in San Diego, USA, awarded the highest presidential prize for working with data, specifically for Prague’s ability to effectively transform data into ecological and economic solutions.
In the past, for example, New York or Philadelphia or the University of Michigan, UPS or the American Red Cross won the President’s Award. IPR was awarded primarily for the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for urban planning.
Prague manages all possible spatial data on two portals – on geoportalwhere there are map materials for the general public, and on the web Territorially analytical documents. It has applications such as a digital spatial plan, a heat map of Prague, technical infrastructure drawings and more.
“There are all possible data sets from all spheres of human activity. You name it, we have a dataset for it. Plus works with active data, for example from mobile operators. From this, individual documents, analyzes and subsequently strategies for the development of the city are put together,” explains Boháč.
And he adds that Prague is at the top among cities in this regard. Perhaps because, according to Boháč, the data itself is based on real digital planning. While some cities are content with converting paper maps into digital form, Prague is following the path of standardized data sets, which can actually fully replace classic maps and even surpass them.
“You click on an area and you get comprehensive information about it. One works with many layers with different information, but they are standardized so that they are compatible with each other. When you are dealing with the availability of housing or the capacity of new neighborhoods, you have all possible data at your disposal,” Boháč describes.
With its help, it is also possible to better present many topics to the public. For example, the IPR has several datasets available that relate to the city’s climate.
In this context, he recently shared a lot on social networks image taken from the International Space Station (ISS), which captures recent extreme temperatures in Prague. From the picture, it seems that Holešovice is the worst of the entire city. However, according to Boháč, it is this picture that shows how standardized city data is needed.
“That’s a bit misleading, not that the satellite image shows wrong data, but it doesn’t say anything about what the city is like inside. Because the roofs are on fire, but that doesn’t mean that the conditions in the streets are so scary,” explains Boháč.
“The photo gives more information about what kind of roof coverings prevail in the given districts and how they accumulate heat, which is why the Old Town or the tin roofs in Holešovice shine so brightly there. But at the same time, the street can have enough shade from the trees and it can actually be pleasant there. That’s actually a nice example of how wrong conclusions can be drawn from just one kind of data,” he adds, adding that complex datasets in such a case would give a much better picture of how hot the city is.
The Prague datasets are freely accessible as so-called open data. And they can be used by the public, but also by companies. “We provide them for download as georeports or an open dataset,” says the director of the Prague planners.
Prague plans to continue the system of managing data about everything possible and its use. For example, the user interface should be fine-tuned, which in the future should be divided into a part intended for the lay public and an interface that will suit more experts.
According to Boháč, 3D models of the city and displaying data in a 3D interface are a big advantage. “We already have a 3D model of the city, but we can work with it even further and it would help Prague move forward,” he says.