Hello OKFN Labs Community.
I developed a free mobile app designed to help bring open data to the mobile platform.
So far, the adoption of the app by the open data community has been positive. However, I believe the app would benefit from more feedback and exposure. Hence, I’m presenting it the OKFN labs Community.
Please, find below a summary of: the problems solved by the app, the app objectives; and other details of the app.
THE PROBLEMS: With the growth of open data, alot of open data technocrats, data journalists, software developers, enthusiasts, and academia have become interested in its use (especially in such cases as datasets on government-spending, population, city infrastructure, transportation, health and other smart-city data). However, many of these interested individuals and organisations are not aware of the existence of the relevant portals where these datasets can be accessed and only stumble across these portals after many hours of rigorous searching.
A second challenge is that mobile and mobile app usage is ever increasing. Research has shown that people now spend more time on mobile devices than watching television; and this number keeps increasing at a rapid rate (Study: Americans spend 162 minutes on their mobile device per day, mostly with apps – GeekWire ;
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?). This means that mobile devices are now one of the easiest and fastest means of accessing data and information; if more people are to become aware of open data and use it, it has to have a mobile presence with mobile features users have come to expect.
THE SOLUTION: Create an open data mobile app that contains a repository of available open data portals.
The Mobile App should act as a bridge between mobile users and the actual open data portals; providing access to all datasets available on the portals.
The Mobile App should provide mobile-optimised features and design.
MOBILE APP NAME: Open Data Companion (ODC)
APP LINK ON GOOGLE PLAY STORE: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=writeosahon.utopiasoftware.odcompanion
APP DESCRIPTION: Open Data Companion (ODC) is a productivity tool which provides a unified access point to over 120 open data portals and thousands of datasets from around the world; right from your mobile device. Crafted with mobile-optimised features and design, this is an easy and convenient way to find, access and share open data.
Open Data Companion provides a framework for all State, Regional, National and Worldwide CKAN open data portals to deliver open data to all mobile users.
APP FEATURES:
-
Browse datasets from over 120 data portals around the world by categories
-
Receive push notifications when new datasets are available from any portal of your choosing
-
Download and view data records (resources) on your mobile device.
-
Preview dataset records and create data visualisations in app before download (as supported by data portal)
-
Bookmark/save datasets for later viewing.
-
“Favourite” your data portals for future easy access
-
Share links to datasets on social media, email, sms etc. right from the app.
-
In-app tutorial videos designed to help you quickly get productive with the app. Tutorial videos are available offline once downloaded.
APP OBJECTIVES:
-
Create a mobile app that contains a repository of available open data portals. This will help to drastically reduce the amount of time spent searching for open data to use/consume.
-
Create an effective mobile channel for open data portal administrators to present datasets to the ever-expanding mobile community at no extra cost or software configuration.
-
The Mobile App should act as a bridge between mobile users and the actual open data portals; providing access to all datasets available on the portals. The app is designed to complement and supplement the datasets/services provided by data portals.
-
The Mobile App should provide mobile-optimised features and design to cater for mobile users expectations.
Please kindly use the app and give feedback on areas for improvement. You can also send across words of encouragement 
and also help spread the word about the app.
If you’re interested in knowing more checking out my blog post for OKFN Labs: Open Data Companion (ODC) – Bringing Open Data to the Mobile Platform - Open Knowledge Labs. You can also visit the app website: http://odc.utopiasoftwareonline.com
Thanks for the feedback and support.
Osahon
