Hackathon of Public Administration demonstrated the potential of open data
PRESS RELEASE – September 18, 2017
Hackathon of Public Administration - group photo
The first hackathon of public administration took place in the headquarters of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO). During the event, more than 60 computer programmers were searching for all possibilities of exploiting open data. On the basis of the given sets of public administration data, 15 projects were created, which have been made available for further developments. The event was organized by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO), the Czech Telecommunication Office, the Czech Social Security Administration, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Czech Statistical Office, the State Administration of Land Surveying and Cadastre, Otakar Motejl Fund, and the University of Economics. Programmers were given 50 datasets that originated from 7 out of the organising institutions.
In the Czech Republic, there are around 7,300 various public administration information systems, which were procured for more than CZK 110,000 million in total and their maintenance fees amount to CZK 25,000 million per one year. They contain data, which are not used enough since only a fracture of them are released in the open data format. “All public administration data, with the exception of classified, confidential, and sensitive data, should be open to the public. The first hackathon of public administration showed us that when these data are properly used, the public administration can be improved and more effective. At the same time, the public can benefit as well”, said President of the SAO Mr. Miloslav Kala.
The first hackathon of public administration brought about a range of options of utilisation of the data that originated from public institutions. “Participants offered fresh insights into the issue of public administration data and increased their potential for their practical utilisation. We believe that this event will inspire other public institutions to make their data also available to all people who would be willing to use them and work with them”, said Chairman of the Czech Telecommunication Office Mr. Jaromír Novák.
During the 24-hour event, groups of maximum 5 people created various products, applications, and visualisations using the given datasets. In the end, the panel of judges selected five best ones: the highest account of points was given to an application entitled “Hazard vs. Executions”, which combined data about gambling regulations, slot gaming machines permits, and executions issued in individual municipalities. As a result, it created an interactive map showing the rates of obtained writs of executions in municipalities affected by gambling.
The second best product was a visualization of data from the centralised register of administrative buildings entitled “CRABAPP”, which connected data with other relevant datasets. Project entitled “Contexts of Contracts”, which connected data from the Register of Contracts with other public administration databases and established links to public institutions, ranked in the third place.
The list of all awarded projects as well as other products created during the first hackathon of public administration event is available on www.hackujstat.cz/index-en.html. All individual projects are also freely available for further developments.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office