Open Source

Public domain activist Carl Malamud explains in this brief talk why he believes building, fire and safety codes should be taken out of the hands of the private companies that distribute them and made publicly accessible.

At the recent RailVolution conference in Portland, OR, Chris Smith of Portland Transport showed off a cheap and simple display device that uses open source data to display transit times in public spaces. His price? $200.

Civic Commons is a new non-profit that facilitates the sharing of information and knowledge on open city initiatives for open, data-driven, and collaborative city services.

With the devastation in Haiti fresh in mind, Good's Alissa Walker takes a look at the growing practice of sharing design ideas.

A group of 200 volunteers with GPS devices will walk the streets of Atlanta this weekend to create a community-owned map of the city and its intricate details.

Opening city data to the public was a relatively new idea when the District of Columbia began publishing its data streams online recently. As applications using the data developed, some in the District got a little weary of the idea.

Mark Gorton, creator of Limewire started developing his GeoServer software in 1999. Recently Portland adopted the software to plan bus routes. Gorton wants to foster a new revolution in participatory planning.