Open Source at GLA - a road less travelled

Open Source - The Road Less TravelledUsing Open Source and Open Data at the GLA

David MunnGreater London Authority

“Exciting” Times

Lots of priorities and choices

Proprietary Software

Obstinately expensive Mind-numbingly complex licencing Strong sanctions for non-

compliance

Technical constraints

Complexity results in compromises

Compromises stifle innovation

Virtualisation limited Vague licence terms

backed up with risk of legal action

Building Support for OS

Identify influencers that might have an interest

CEO / CFO Focus on the business

benefits (savings / flexibility)

IT Strategy Sell the Strategy OS / Cloud First

Deal with Legitimate Concerns

Hard work Limited business benefits Savings in maintenance /

administration Costs / inconvenience of

proprietary solutions Strong security Open standards

supporting interoperability

The Road Less Travelled

Hard journey Replacing database

infrastructure Substantial savings

Building the foundations

Apache / Linux / Tomcat - Apps

Nagios – Monitoring Network

Drupal – Web-site / Datastore

Solr - Search Postgres / Maria

DB – Database Infrastructure

Building the London Datastore

Launched in 2010 Provides datasets - free Encouraging others to use

the data to develop applications

http://data.london.gov.uk Real-time transport data is

being used Open Source Development

(Drupal)

Collaboration and Participation

Open data – the London Data store Reaching out to the developer community Participatory approach Applications are now being developed using this data

Collaboration and Participation

Collaboration and Participation

Collaboration and Participation

Interaction with Citizens at the heart of new web-site Open Source Environment Integrated with Social Media Seeking views on policy work

Collaboration and Participation

Collaboration and Participation

Datastore Next Steps

Just Do It!