Open Source

Data
Sectors	Data
Contact	Wilfred Pinfold
Topics	Artificial Intelligence Data Sovereignty Digital Twins Geographic Location Systems Intelligence Augmentation Knowledge Management Mobile Device and Communications Networks Open Data Open Source Predictive Modeling Sensor Technology Software Development Methods Standards and Interfaces
Activities Citizen App Citizen App, the first of its kind, empower individuals to claim and legally own their data from across multiple sources, then use it securely and seamlessly in everyday life. Go-Green GoGreen aims to help people understand the impact of small sustainable gestures on their communities through technology. It presents itself as a community rewards system where participating points providers can define actions that support their communities objectives and reward people for taking them. For the users they see a marketplace of options along with rewards based on secure blockchain based smart contracts for supportive behavior. Lutece Lutece is an open source platform developed by the City of Paris to help you develop digital solutions. Honed for cities’ use through almost 20 years of development, Lutece has evolved into multifaceted platform with more than 400 plugins and modular architecture that will enable your specific needs and enhance your users' digital experience. Open Network for Education and Skilling Transactions Beckn-based Open Network for Education and Skilling Transactions (ONEST) Open Participatory Budgeting Participatory budgeting (PB) is process in which citizens decide how to allocate part of a municipal or public budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. Participatory budgeting allows citizens or residents of a locality to identify, discuss, and prioritize public spending projects, and gives them the power to make real decisions about how money is spent. Small Donor Elections The Small Donor Elections program seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics and encourage election of people to City office who are reflective of and accountable to all Portlanders. The Solid Project The Solid project is a decentralized platform for the Web that he and a team of researchers at MIT are developing. The goal of the Solid project is to give people more control over their personal data and how it is used by enabling them to store their data on their own servers or "pods," rather than on centralized servers controlled by companies. Urban Platform An easy-to-use platform that allows you to manage your city, whether you are responsible for traffic and mobility, safety, infrastructure or high-level decision making. Press Barcelona’s participatory democracy open source platform Released in 2017 by the Barcelona City Council, Decidim ("we decide" in Catalan) is a free and open digital platform for democratic participation that is maintained and developed by a community of users. The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. On a technical level, Decidim is a framework (or development environment) designed using the Ruby on Rails development software. The source code is available on GitHub under an AGPL 3.0 License. Digital Infrastructure Forum Today, international technology standards organization Object Management Group® (OMG®) announced it would co-host a digital infrastructure forum with the Open Civic Foundation (OCF) and the Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) in support of open civic data and IT standards through the further development of the Open Civic Architectural Framework (OCAF). Digital Twin Consortium’s open-source now available to the public on GitHub The Digital Twin Consortium’s open-source collaboration initiative is now available to the public on GitHub. By opening up this resource to the world, we are encouraging innovation, accelerating usage, and expanding collaboration in digital twins.  FIWARE4Cities FIWARE4Cities book edition 3 presents insight of cities into how they are using FIWARE and the benefits they are able to generate when making their cities smart, but also sustainable and resilient. Flemish government launches data company Athumi Flemish minister-president Jan Jambon officially presented the Flemish data company Athumi on Thursday evening. The company introduces data vaults in Flanders, which will allow citizens to choose what data they share with which organisations and for how long. How Open-Source Software Makes Cities More Livable St. Francis is now rolling out a new calendaring and scheduling service on its website, designed to help neighborhood people register for services or reserve space for events. Impact of Open Source on the European economy The Commission has published the results of a study analysing the economic impact of Open Source Software and Hardware on the European economy. MIMs Plus Technical Specifications final version 4 released Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) are the minimal but sufficient capabilities needed to achieve interoperability of data, systems, and services between buyers, suppliers and regulators across governance levels around the world. Because the mechanisms are based on an inclusive list of baselines and references, they take into account the different backgrounds of cities and communities and allow cities to achieve interoperability based on a minimal common ground. Open Strategic Autonomy An interconnected and open technology sector in Europe would provide the continent with cutting-edge, competitive solutions; well-paid jobs; and a turnover that contributes to Europe’s tax base and public welfare. As digitalisation and decarbonisation continue worldwide, an open technology sector would provide a strong geopolitical position, that allows Europe to set global technological standards, promote European values, as well as, maintain and grow Europe’s economy. Open-source collaboration drives digital twin innovation The Digital Twin Consortium’s open-source collaboration initiative is now available to the public on GitHub. An open-source collaboration community will accelerate the adoption of digital twin-enabling technologies and solutions. Consortium members and non-members can collaborate on open-source projects, code, and collateral and become part of the DTC ecosystem.

Authors

Open source refers to a type of software or technology whose source code is publicly available and can be modified and distributed by anyone. This means that the underlying code that makes the software or technology work is freely accessible to the public, and can be modified, improved, or distributed by anyone without the need for permission from the original creator.

Open source software is typically developed by a community of developers who work together to improve the software and share their modifications with the rest of the community. This collaborative approach to development allows for rapid innovation and can result in high-quality software that is widely used and widely supported.

Open source is in contrast to proprietary software, which is developed and distributed by a company or individual who retains exclusive control over the software's source code and distribution.

Open source is a fundamental concept in the software development field but has been extended to other areas such as education, research, and technology. Open-source hardware, Open-source content and Open-source drug discovery are some examples.

Open source is a philosophy that encourages collaboration and sharing, which aims to foster innovation, creativity, and community development.

Best Practices

There are several best practices that are commonly followed in open-source development:

1. Use version control: Using a version control system such as Git allows multiple developers to work on the same codebase simultaneously and helps track changes to the code over time.
2. Write clear and readable code: Open-source code should be easy to read and understand by other developers, which helps to ensure that others can contribute to the project and that the code can be easily maintained.
3. Write documentation: Well-written documentation helps others understand the project and how to contribute.
4. Write tests: Writing automated tests helps to ensure that the code works as intended and that any changes made to the code do not break existing functionality.
5. Use a well accepted license: Open-source projects should have an open-source license which clearly states the terms under which the code can be used, modified, and distributed.
6. Encourage community involvement: Encouraging contributions from the community and fostering a welcoming environment helps to build a strong and active community around the project.
7. Continuously improve: Continuously improve the codebase, fix bugs, and add new features to keep the project active and relevant.
8. Be inclusive: Be inclusive and respectful of all contributors regardless of their background or experience.

By following these best practices, open-source development teams can create high-quality, well-maintained, and widely adopted code that benefits the entire community.

Continuously improve van be achieved from the outset by using Agile development methodologies. Agile software development emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. It is often used in open-source software development to manage the collaborative process of developing and maintaining software.

In Agile development, a software project is broken down into small, manageable chunks called iterations or sprints, usually lasting a few weeks. Each iteration or sprint is focused on delivering a working piece of software that contains a set of specific features or improvements. The team works closely with the stakeholders, such as users and customers, to prioritize and plan the work for each iteration.

In an open-source software context, Agile development allows for a flexible and collaborative process where developers from different backgrounds, locations, and skill levels can work together to deliver a high-quality product. The stakeholders, such as the users and contributors, can provide feedback and suggestions at any point in the development process.

Some of the key principles of Agile development in open-source software include:

Working software is the primary measure of progress

• Welcome changing requirements
• Deliver working software frequently
• Collaboration between developers and stakeholders
• Continuous improvement

The Agile development approach in open-source software can provide a transparent and flexible development process that allows for rapid innovation and customer satisfaction.

Barriers to Use

Two barriers currently exist to effective and powerful smart city solutions. First, many current smart city ICT deployments are based on custom systems that are not interoperable, portable across cities, extensible, or cost-effective. Second, a number of architectural design efforts are currently underway (e.g. ISO/IEC JTC1, IEC, IEEE, ITU and consortia) but have not yet converged, creating uncertainty among stakeholders. To reduce these barriers, NIST and its partners convened an international public working group to compare and distill from these architectural efforts and city stakeholders a consensus framework of common architectural features to enable smart city solutions that meet the needs of modern communities.