BSI, the business standards company, has launched a new guide on establishing a framework for sharing data and information services in cities.
PAS 183:2017 Smart Cities – guide to establishing a decision-making framework for sharing data and information services – was developed at the request of the Cities Standards Institute; in part to support a transparent approach to making decisions. The Cities Standard Institute is a collaboration between BSI and the Future Cities Catapult to create a standards-based community of good practice for cities and businesses.
Creating specific data-sharing agreements can help decision-makers realise the benefits and value of data and information services in a city. As BSI says, data is mostly used for a specific purpose by cities, often related to a public task, with the value of data sharing yet to be fully explored and realized by cities. Data is not yet widely viewed as an essential asset which can be used to transform a city. There is also untapped potential for data to provide the basis for new commercial models in smart cities.
BSI adds that an effective decision-making framework for sharing data can help ensure that city decision-makers – in the public, private and third sectors – have the best overall data to shape their decision making. The consequences for missing data or the misinterpretation of data can lead to wrong actions – sometimes with debilitating consequences for an organization or the wider public.
PAS 183 defines the data framework for sharing city data to enable discussions between the specialists who build and design the physical and digital services and the decisions-makers using data to transform their city. The guide covers types of data in smart cities; establishing a data sharing culture; a data value chain, and its roles and responsibilities; purposes for data use; assessing data states; defining access rights for data; and data formats of transportation.
Full data interoperability requires a data framework to be created across the entire spectrum of data for a city: open, closed and shared data. For some cities, there will also be a need to establish specific data sharing agreements, particularly where data is being shared by multiple organizations simultaneously.
Dan Palmer, Head of Manufacturing at BSI, said: “PAS 183 was created to make the process of sharing different sets of data as easy as possible, and set out guidelines for appropriate use of data. This PAS provides clarity around what types of data can be published as open data, what can be shared and what should be kept private. The sharing of as wide a range of data as possible is essential in order for both city authorities and citizens to make informed decisions about the options open to them.”
This guide is part of a wider suit of PASs, including PAS 180, 181, 182 – guides which defined the vocabulary terms for smart cities, a smart city framework, and a smart city concept model respectively. PAS 183 does not cover national security issues; good practice for use of data by the citizen; existing inoperability agreements between cities; defining application programming interfaces (API); any data sharing rules and regulations specific to a particular jurisdiction.
Involved in the development of PAS 183 as members of the steering group were: BSI Consumer & Public Interest Network; Cities Standard Institute; Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction; D4SC Ltd (Design for Social Change); Digital Built Britain (BIM Task Group); Digital Catapult; FlyingBinary Limited; Fujitsu; Future Cities catapult; Greater London Authority; Imtech Traffic & Infra UK Ltd; iStand UK; Living PlanIT SA; Local Government Association; Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure; Ordnance Survey Ltd; Red Ninja; Royal Academy of Engineering; Royal Borough of Greenwich; SmartKlub Ltd; University College London; and UrbanDNA. Visit www.bsigroup.com.
