UK’s Network Rail is going open data with status on lifts and escalators for 3rd party apps – More governments need to do this!

The hope is to let travellers know in advance before they travel or in sufficient time before they alight, whether they can haul their wheelchair or a baby’s buggy to a station without ending up fuming and sweating at the foot of an escalator that’s been out of service for years.

With almost 1,500 lifts and 300 escalators dwelling in 500 stations around the country, the body is promising to provide real-time updates which can be plugged into the creations of any enterprising app or web developer by means of an application programming interface.

Many governments promise open data but never really deliver it, and I won’t embarrass the one I know of here. A good example is the City Of Cape Town though with a portal with 60+ open data sources on it.

See Lift us up where we belong: UK’s Network Rail puts elevators online

#technology #opendata #government

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Where the data flies, and the travellers cry…..