Comparisons on municipality, neighborhood and borough level made possible. An R Shiny tool to empower citizens with open data about amenities and traffic incidents

Abstract

Active participation of citizens is more and more stimulated by governmental institutions. For example, citizens are allowed to contribute to the decision-making process by submitting ideas on how to improve the livability of the neighborhood. Most of the community initiatives are experience-based and not evidence-based or data driven. However, it is not easy for citizens to obtain objective data about different topics of interest. Multiple online dashboards fail to capture and visualize data of boroughs and comparisons between different geographical areas are not possible. Therefore, the current study tries to bridge this gap by developing a dashboard with visualizations of open data and comparisons between geographical areas about topics of interest for citizens. The study focuses on open data about amenities and traffic incidents as was suggested by citizens of Utrecht Overvecht. Direct feedback from citizens of Utrecht Overvecht and scientific researchers contributed to the development process of the dashboard. The feedback resulted in improved understandability and usability of the dashboard designed for citizens of the Netherlands. The written code to develop the dashboard is published on GitHub to contribute to open science.