Blog article: Announcing the 2024 Toronto Open Data Award Winners
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Hi, everyone! We’re excited to share the highlights and wrap-up of our first-ever Open Data Awards. It’s been an incredible journey, and we couldn’t have done it without all of you who participated and supported this initiative.
Let’s dive into what happened and what we’ve learned along the way. But first, here are the winners of the 2024 Toronto Open Data Awards.
The Public Project Winners:
- Winner: Automatic Detection & Display of Unplanned TTC Detours (The Transit App and Toronto Transit Commission) – This project tackled the challenge of unplanned TTC detours by enhancing the Transit app to provide real-time detour maps and updates. By extending TTC’s GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) data to include detour details and using machine learning to detect unplanned route changes, the app ensures riders have accurate, dynamic information about service disruptions and temporary routes.
- Honourable mention: Open Water Data (Mitch Bechtel) – This platform informs open water swimmers and other water recreation users with a wealth of information about popular beaches in Toronto, and around the world so they can make informed decisions about where and when to swim outdoors. The goal was to make existing information available from various sources easier to find and understand, and to gather and share information that is not otherwise available.
The City (internal staff, division teams) Project Winners:
- Winner: Social Development and Finance Administration’s Neighbourhood Wellbeing Data Suite – This interactive mapping platform utilizes neighbourhood level data, to map out and layer data on a wide range of indicators related to health, housing, safety, and overall quality of life. Users can quickly find what neighbourhood they live in and retrieve relevant socioeconomic indicators that they are interested in. This tool is a common platform used by both community members and internal City staff to power targeted neighbourhood planning for a healthier, more equitable city.
- Honourable mentions (there was a three-way tie):
- Toronto Public Health’s Open Data App – (Internal TPH Open Data app facilitates data access for a number of projects without the need for any development effort. Over 250 distinct restful endpoints are available, providing data from 12 datasets, serving multiple internal business teams, making data available to TPH websites like Dinesafe, Bodysafe, Swimsafe, ChemTRAC and also providing data to the Open Data group and other external partners. Over 100,000 daily requests are serviced).
- Transportation Services’ Open Datasets – The Transportation Data & Analytics Unit has published over 10 transportation & mobility datasets. Developing modern tools for staff to manage and access data, upgrading legacy systems, and prioritizing data quality, automation, and open access.
- Housing Secretariat’s Dashboard – This unit released datasets, dashboards, and maps on key topics such as the stock of affordable homes, the pipeline for new housing, and the housing waitlist. These tools were designed to meet the needs of Torontonians through clear and accessible data storytelling.
- Toronto Public Health’s Open Data App – (Internal TPH Open Data app facilitates data access for a number of projects without the need for any development effort. Over 250 distinct restful endpoints are available, providing data from 12 datasets, serving multiple internal business teams, making data available to TPH websites like Dinesafe, Bodysafe, Swimsafe, ChemTRAC and also providing data to the Open Data group and other external partners. Over 100,000 daily requests are serviced).
The Student Project Winner:
- Student Project Award: Toronto SUMO Networks – an open-source project designed to simulate and analyze traffic networks for the City of Toronto using the Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) tool.
Submissions and Participation
We closed the submission form on December 4th and received an impressive variety of entries. In total, we received 51 external, internal City and nominated project submissions.
These projects covered a range of subjects, showing the diverse ways people are using open data to solve real-world problems. We received a wide array of projects with topics focused on recreation and leisure, transit and mobility, urban planning and housing, public safety, health and community services, environmental awareness. Stay tuned for many of the projects to be showcased on our revamped Gallery page.
Reviewing the Entries
The immediate Open Data team spent time carefully sifting through every submission. Using a detailed rubric, we scored and ranked the projects to narrow the pool to the top finalists. Our team’s expertise—ranging from back-end developer to policy analyst, transformation consultant, and communications—helped ensure a balanced review process. We narrowed it down to a shortlist of top projects, and then we brought in a panel of esteemed external judges (see their bios below ⏬) to evaluate the finalists and decide the winners. These judges spent a day with us, providing their insights and perspectives. It was a collaborative process that not only refined the selection, but also gave us valuable lessons for next time.
Judging Criteria
Here’s the rubric we used to evaluate all the external submissions:
Impact (30%): Does the project address an identified civic issue and provide evidence of its impact or uptake?
Innovation (30%): Does the project use open data in new ways to create insights, solutions, or enable future innovation?
Design (20%): Is the project thoughtfully designed, intuitive, and accessible for diverse users?
Community Engagement (20%): Does the project consider and involve users and the community meaningfully throughout development?
Lessons Learned
Some of our key takeaways from running this award:
Communication is key: Clear guidelines and examples would make it easier to assess submissions. Sharing the rubric before submissions start would help applicants tailor their responses to the criteria, making them more focused and easier to compare.
Comparing Projects: Open data is used in so many ways—from startups to students and hobbyists, building everything from user tools to backend systems. Comparing such different projects wasn’t easy, and we’re going to put some more rigorous thought into how we categorize projects, refine criteria for submissions, and recognize the varieties of projects in the future.
Clearer submission questions & criteria: A key takeaway is that submission questions should guide applicants to provide more context about the problem they’re addressing, who their users are, and an objective view of their work. This will help us better understand their projects and evaluate them fairly.
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So, we aim for progress, not perfection! It’s clear there’s a lot of subjectivity in reading, critiquing, analyzing, and scoring these applications. Most projects showcased great vision and an impressive variety of approaches. These lessons will help us create clearer guidelines, improve fairness in assessments, and better celebrate the incredible work being done with open data.
A Big Thank You to Our Judges
Helen Huang is a social impact entrepreneur driven by the belief that innovation happens best when diverse perspectives come together. As the Co-Founder of Co.Lab, she has pioneered an experiential learning platform that empowers non-traditional talent to thrive in the tech industry. Recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree and DMZ Woman of the Year, Helen combines her product experience from Microsoft and Zynga with her passion for inspiring others to create positive change through technology.
Dr. Mark Fox is a Distinguished Professor of Urban Systems Engineering, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Computer Science, and Founding Director of the Centre for Social Services Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is actively involved in the development of international standards for city data based on his urban ontology research, including ISO/IEC 21972 “Upper level ontology for smart city indicators” and the ISO/IEC 5087 series of “City data model” standards. He has published over 250 papers.
Candice Sarnecki is the Sr. Director of Sales at Miovision responsible for the Sales team managing Canada and the 22 largest cities in North America solving congestion and safety challenges in support of Vision Zero commitments. Candice joined Miovision in 2023 after 22 years in the telecommunications industry supporting Sales and Business Development for IoT domestically and globally and global carrier relations. Candice has her masters in Urban Planning and is a long time resident of the Greater Toronto Area.
Dorothy Eng is the Chief Executive Officer of Code for Canada, a national nonprofit using tech and design to improve life in Canada. She works with governments, nonprofits and corporations to develop public-interest technologies which make the delivery of services to the public more effective, efficient and better meet people where they are at.
Keith McDonald has a storied past with the City including being part of the early days of the Open Data initiative and ending up as our first Open Data lead in 2014. Keith retired in 2017 when he founded “the literacy AI project” to teach community audiences about the impacts of AI – becoming a bridge between AI creators and citizen consumers.
Fartash Haghani is the Director of Enterprise Data and AI for the City of Toronto, Fartash leads transformative initiatives to unify city data, enhance cross-departmental collaboration, and responsibly integrate AI technologies. With a rich background in software engineering, data science, and AI, he is dedicated to improving municipal operations and citizen services through innovation.
Rachel Weiss (she/her) is a Business Intelligence Consultant in the City of Toronto’s Data for Equity Unit. She is passionate about leveraging data to identify and address inequalities. Before joining the public service in 2022, Rachel worked as a mixed-methodology researcher and data consultant in the private sector.
James Elliott has twenty-five years of experience at the City of Toronto, James brings in-depth knowledge of the City’s diverse geospatial datasets. Since 2015, he has been part of the Geospatial Competency Centre, overseeing the Topographic Mapping program and Aerial Imagery datasets. Recently, he has led various geoanalytics initiatives, such as SolarTO, to find better, more cost-effective ways to deliver services to Toronto’s citizens. Outside of work, he enjoys exploring the world and capturing its beauty through photography.
John Griffin is a Program Manager at Open North where he works with local governments across Canada. He is committed to helping facilitate the direct connection between local governments and the communities they serve through improved data governance practices and capacity building.
What’s Next?
We’re planning to feature all the submissions in an online gallery launching next month. It’s our way of recognizing everyone who contributed and inspiring others to explore open data.
We will invite the 2024 award winners to present their projects to senior management teams, division data managers, and staff (details to be finalized). They will receive recognition and their awards during this event.
To everyone who submitted, judged, or cheered us on: thank you for making this a success! Stay tuned for the revamped gallery and updates on this year’s awards.