Where’s the data? A ten year old problem, city CTO says

For all the city information technology issues that Allan Frank addresses daily, its perhaps the availability of transparent city data that plagues him most publicly.

Sure, IT consolidation efforts mandated by mayoral executive order — which have transformed the Division of Technology from an agency once one-fifth the size it is now — have been a priority for Frank, the city’s Chief Technology Officer.

But often, the cry from the city’s industrious technology community has been one caused by a national intrigue in government transparency that tech can facilitate.

Cities like New York — which opened an impressive amount of city datasets for public use, and sponsored a $20,000 contest to attract software developers to create interesting technology applications and web apps — are pressing ahead with new data initiatives.

But Philadelphia lags behind. The city’s first big data win came when SEPTA released raw data around station geolocation and schedules, well after developers took their own stab at collecting data — by scraping HTML pages. Since, we’ve seen little movement from either developers or the city.

When we first covered Frank in May last year, he spoke before a crowd of Refresh Philly attendees and gave them a charge to come up with data they wanted. The effort dwindled, due in part to a lack of movement in the community and too, on actionable steps from the city.

Now, as Frank enters his first fiscal year with a serious $120 million capital investment in city technology, we’re wondering what’s next.

Late last week, we met with the CTO to discuss problems plaguing the department around opening those datasets and followed-up with Frank about how things have been for the last year, his first in public office. After the jump, that conversation.

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Philly Is “Gigabit City” (with or without Google)

Last week, Google thanked the 1,100 applicants who entered its Google Fiber for Communities contest, an initiative to test high-speed, next generation broadband — known as ‘gigabit’ fiber — that is up to 100 times faster than current average household Internet connections. As we’ve written in this column before, Google plans to wire between 50,000 and a half-million households with gigabit, an experiment which could have broad implications for technological innovation and national broadband policy.

The thank-you was but a tease for Philly’s technology community, which, as part of the City’s application to the Google Fiber for Communities contest, created “Gigabit City,” a repository where folks brainstorm specific projects that may be possible with gigabit technology. Like everyone else, they’ll have to wait until Google announces the winners in the fall, but City of Philadelphia Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank isn’t sitting around. He’s turned the city’s application into an opportunity to engage Philadelphia around next-generation broadband policy.

In the process, he’s been able to push the city’s telecommunication heavies  — Comcast and Verizon — to consider Philadelphia’s future.

Read the full story over at Philly Mag’s Philly post.

City CTO explains why 311 iPhone app is two months late

Last week, we wrote that Philadelphia’s planned 311 iPhone app — which would allow folks to submit complaints and ask questions to the city’s citizen-serving 311 agency — was two months late.

In a conversation last week, city Chief Technology Officer Allan Frank responded to some of the specifics of the article, which posited alternatives to in-house development of the application and challenged the city to take advantage of free app technologies and to turn to Philadelphia’s talented and civic-focused developers for help.

Frank said that contrary to statements in the article, the application hasn’t cost taxpayers anything — it’s been a labor of love for several employees in the department — and that the city did research low-cost and free, third-party options but found that its solution was the strongest.

So, then, why is it two months late?

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Philly Post: Philly 311 – There’s no app for that

Last week, while the City of Philadelphia was busy celebrating the country’s 234th birthday, another anniversary passed by with little fanfare. July 5 marked three months since the city announced it was developing its own 311 iPhone application to allow citizens to access city data on the go. It also marked the day the application was two months late.

In an April 5 announcement, Division of Technology chief Allan Frank said the application would be available in May, yet there’s still no sign of it on the city’s 311 site or in the App Store.

While we’re certainly on board with city government embracing new technologies, there were several alternatives to the city developing the application itself that would have sped up its development and saved precious taxpayer dollars.

Read more at Philly Mag’s Philly Post.

VC Roundup: Wharton competes and the city gets $25 million

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Welcome to the VC Round-up, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

DEFINITE READS

The New York Times was all over the Wharton Business Plan Competition this year. The Old Gray Lady said that life sciences were all the rage, though business services company Cortical Concepts won the $20,000 grand prize. As we know, $20,000 to a Wharton student is like $100 to the rest of us.

DreamIt Ventures is a week away from its “kickoff weekend.” But a few lawyer-types are jumping the gun tonight with the Law Firm Kickoff. The free event plans to explore how law firms will work with the incubated companies.

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Gigabit City working with Communities United for Broadband to elevate the broadband conversation

Whether Google is behind it or not, Blake Jennelle wants you to know that ultra high-speed gigabit broadband is worth investing in.

Though the Philly Startup Leaders founder would like to see those investments made here in Philadelphia, gigabit is bigger than this city alone.

“The end goal for Philly is still to get gigabit, but Google’s only going to install it in a couple communities,” Jennelle said in a telephone interview earlier this month. “The reality is, if gigabit matters and we want it here, we have to make the case to local companies, city government and the community that it’s worth investing in. It’s going to be hard to do that if the effort is in isolation,” he says.

After Google announced in February that it would help launch 1-gigabit data networks in select communities, the City of Philadelphia and leaders in the region’s technology community have been coordinating an effort to attract Google here. More than 1,000 communities are vying for the opportunity.

Though Philly is certainly not alone in contention, a unique approach to advocating for gigabit broadband is emerging here. Jennelle has been working closely with broadband consultant Craig Settles—a former Philly native whom we’ve often sourced on this site—to educate about and inspire other cities to invest in high-speed gigabit fiber.

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Google ultra high speed fiber application closes today, attention picks up

Nearly one month after the announcement came at Ignite Philly, widespread attention for the City of Philadelphia applying to partner with Google on its proposed ultra-high speed internet experiment has finally come.

The deadline for applications is today. That has led local politicians scrambling to social media to sure up their tech credentials and community support, and, yes, a Philadelphia media binge.

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Are the Mayor’s technology firm tax incentives not enough?

It’s been a few weeks now since Mayor Michael Nutter announced a tax incentive pilot for technology firms aimed at decreasing sales tax for service-based tech companies and, ultimately, attracting more businesses to Philadelphia.

For as much as we’ve heard support for the decision to eliminate taxes on sales outside of Philadelphia, there’s been criticism from local entrepreneurs that maybe the tax pilot isn’t much of an incentive at all, but it will help retain companies that are already here, some say.

Damon Alberts, whom with the Videogame Growth Initiative has helped lobby city and state government officials for the last year to create more opportunities for small video game studios in the city, praised the decision but said more work needed to be done. It’s by no means an end result, but a “step in the right direction,” he says.

“I wouldn’t call it an incentive, because really they’re removing a barrier. Now I don’t have to pay a tax that I shouldn’t have to pay anyway,” he told Technically Philly in a telephone interview in early March. Alberts was gearing up for a trip to Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, a popular annual gathering for the industry.

“It’s a step in the right direction because video game firms are on the Mayor’s radar,” he says.

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Prize for best Google Gigabit Philly idea announced, $8,000 and growing

It’s not often that one is monetarily rewarded simply for an idea. But the prospect of Google building its ultra-high speed broadband Internet here is raising the stakes.

This morning, Philly Startup Leaders announced that it will award a prize of $5,000 - donated from the organization’s own coffer – for the best idea submitted to Gigabit Philly supporting the city’s grassroots effort to convince Google to build ultra-high speed fiber in Philadelphia.

In a matter of hours, six individuals and organizations have pledged to donate to the prize offering, bringing the award to more than $8,000, Startup Leaders founder Blake Jennelle told Technically Philly in a phone interview this morning. Startup Leaders hopes that the prize will continue to increase as Google’s deadline on Mar. 26 quickly approaches.

“We’ll consider this a victory if it shines a light on the grassroots movement in Philadelphia. We take things into our hands, step up to the plate, move quickly and rally together,” Jennelle says.

Only ideas submitted at GigabitPhilly.com will be included in the contest. Organizers are urging folks to spread the word on Twitter with the hashtag #gigabitphilly.

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Event Highlights for March 15-21, 2010

The big event this week isn’t in Philly at all. But Philadelphia has quite a presence in Austin, Texas, this week for South by Southwest, for sure. Our reporter Sean Blanda is hot on the trial, chasing down Philly’s representatives. He’ll follow-up with a report later this week.

That said, there’s some great opportunities here in Philadelphia, too. Join Microsoft’s Malvern branch for its CloudCamp unconference to discuss the growing cloud computing industry and Philly Startup Leaders hosts a fishbowl of City of Philadelphia’s Digital Philadelphia vision with city officials.

All events listed on the event calendar are free to attend. Be sure to check our complete calendar for more.

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