10. Open Datasets
• real-time geo-queryable
• living/dynamic/well-maintained
• available to other projects/platforms
• relevant beyond lifecycle of initial apps
11. Broader Goals
To Promote:
• Learning and exploring
• Appreciation of place (Portland)
• Participation in community projects
• Walking and health
19. “A poetry post...is a wooden pole, usually,
mounted on private property, so that it
faces pedestrians. On top of the pole is a
box, with a glass or clear face and a lid.
Inside the box is a sheet of paper containing
a poem...”
– Laura O. Foster
39. What are Heritage Trees?
"...a list of trees that – because of their age,
size, type, historical association or
horticultural value – are of special
importance to the City. Upon recommendation of
the Urban Forestry Commission, the City Council may
designate a tree as a Heritage Tree provided the tree's
health, aerial space, and open ground area for the root
system have been certified as sufficient."
69. Refactored List of
Challenges
• Building Data • Creating Visual Appeal
• Lack of Consensus • Data Accuracy
• Multiple Sources • IP Uncertainty
• Multiple Data Formats • Teams and Roles
98. Data Sources (Nov 2010)
• PDX API: 279 works of art
• Civic Apps CSV file: 366 works of art
• BTS: 300ish works of art (no direct access)
• RACC.org: 1800+ works or art
99. PDXAPI
RACC.org
Civic Apps
BTS?
How do they fit together?
113. RACC.org Murals
TriMet
Convention
Center?
Public Art
114. RACC.org Murals
TriMet
Metro?
Convention
Center?
Public Art
115. RACC.org Murals
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Metro
Convention
Center
Public Art
116. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Metro
Convention
Center
Public Art
117. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Metro
Convention
Center
Public Art
118. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Beaverton?
Metro
Convention
Center
Public Art
119. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Convention
Center
Public Art
120. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Public Art
121. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Performance
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Public Art
122. Fountains
RACC.org Murals
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Public Art
123. Fountains Street
RACC.org Murals Art?
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Public Art
127. Fountains Street
RACC.org Murals Art?
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Community?
Public Art
131. Intersection
Repair
photo by City Repair (via Flickr)
132. Julian Voss-
Andrae’s
Alpha Helix
(at the Linus Pauling House)
photo via julianvossandrae.com
133. Fountains Street
RACC.org Murals Art?
Parks
& Rec
Port of
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Community?
Public Art
134. Fountains Street
RACC.org Murals Art?
Parks
& Rec
Available
Port of
Data
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Community?
Public Art
135. A Community-wide
Database
Build an inter-agency superset of public art
137. Yes, it’s complicated.
Yet Portland has some of the best
public art data in the country.
138. Data Source Tips
• Start small
• Find allies and implement an example
• Don’t wait for the perfect dataset
• Plan for chaos
• But be ambitious in the long-term!
140. Each source has its own:
• metadata
• schema
• volatility
• level of accuracy and currency
• messes to clean up
141. A dynamic mix of...
• noisy data
• shifting standards
• unexpected restrictions
• adapting to community requests
• addressing data provider concerns
• ambiguities of project 'ownership'
157. Public Art
{ "docs": [{
"addrCity": "",
"addrState": " ",
"addrStreet": "",
"addrZip": "",
"artists": "Dan Corson",
"date": "2009",
"dateModified": "2011-04-18 00:00:00",
"description": "Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED
tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the
lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light
and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are
compressed and give a clearer view of the video. nn"I filmed images and patterns of
natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the
movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park."",
"detailPageURL": "http://racc.org/public-art/search/?recid=2909.101",
"dimensions": "duration: 1:23:10",
"discipline": "video",
"fundingSource": "Percent for Art - City of Portland",
"thumbnailURL": "http://data.racc.org/pa_inventory/1844/1844thumb.jpg",
"location": "Director Park Canopy",
"mappableDiscipline": "other",
"medium": "Digital video on DVD",
"recordID": "2909",
"title": "Mercurial Sky",
"dataSource": "RACC",
"collection": "None",
"photoCredit": "RACC",
"artCopyright": "TBD",
"locationVerified": "YES",
"geometry": {
"coordinates": [
-122.681124,
45.518759
],
"type": "Point"
}
}
158. Public Art
{ "docs": [{
"addrCity": "",
"addrState": " ",
"addrStreet": "",
"addrZip": "",
"artists": "Dan Corson",
"date": "2009",
"dateModified": "2011-04-18 00:00:00",
"description": "Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED
tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the
lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light
and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are
compressed and give a clearer view of the video. nn"I filmed images and patterns of
natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the
movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park."",
"detailPageURL": "http://racc.org/public-art/search/?recid=2909.101",
"dimensions": "duration: 1:23:10",
"discipline": "video",
"fundingSource": "Percent for Art - City of Portland",
"thumbnailURL": "http://data.racc.org/pa_inventory/1844/1844thumb.jpg",
"location": "Director Park Canopy",
"mappableDiscipline": "other",
"medium": "Digital video on DVD",
"recordID": "2909",
"title": "Mercurial Sky",
"dataSource": "RACC",
"collection": "None",
"photoCredit": "RACC",
"artCopyright": "TBD",
"locationVerified": "YES",
"geometry": {
"coordinates": [
-122.681124,
45.518759
],
"type": "Point"
}
}
159. Public Art
{ "docs": [{
"addrCity": "",
"addrState": " ",
"addrStreet": "",
"addrZip": "",
"artists": "Dan Corson",
"date": "2009",
"dateModified": "2011-04-18 00:00:00",
"description": "Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED
tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the
lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light
and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are
compressed and give a clearer view of the video. nn"I filmed images and patterns of
natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the
movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park."",
"detailPageURL": "http://racc.org/public-art/search/?recid=2909.101",
"dimensions": "duration: 1:23:10",
"discipline": "video",
"fundingSource": "Percent for Art - City of Portland",
"thumbnailURL": "http://data.racc.org/pa_inventory/1844/1844thumb.jpg",
"location": "Director Park Canopy",
"mappableDiscipline": "other",
"medium": "Digital video on DVD",
"recordID": "2909",
"title": "Mercurial Sky",
"dataSource": "RACC",
"collection": "None",
"photoCredit": "RACC",
"artCopyright": "TBD",
"locationVerified": "YES",
"geometry": {
"coordinates": [
-122.681124,
45.518759
],
"type": "Point"
}
}
198. Public Art
{ "docs": [{
"addrCity": "",
"addrState": " ",
"addrStreet": "",
"addrZip": "",
"artists": "Dan Corson",
"date": "2009",
"dateModified": "2011-04-18 00:00:00",
"description": "Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED
tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the
lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light
and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are
compressed and give a clearer view of the video. nn"I filmed images and patterns of
natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the
movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park."",
"detailPageURL": "http://racc.org/public-art/search/?recid=2909.101",
"dimensions": "duration: 1:23:10",
"discipline": "video",
"fundingSource": "Percent for Art - City of Portland",
"thumbnailURL": "http://data.racc.org/pa_inventory/1844/1844thumb.jpg",
"location": "Director Park Canopy",
"mappableDiscipline": "other",
"medium": "Digital video on DVD",
"recordID": "2909",
"title": "Mercurial Sky",
"dataSource": "RACC",
"collection": "None",
"photoCredit": "RACC",
"artCopyright": "TBD",
"locationVerified": "YES",
"geometry": {
"coordinates": [
-122.681124,
45.518759
],
"type": "Point"
}
}
199. Public Art
{ "docs": [{
"addrCity": "",
"addrState": " ",
"addrStreet": "",
"addrZip": "",
"artists": "Dan Corson",
"date": "2009",
"dateModified": "2011-04-18 00:00:00",
"description": "Mercurial Sky is an ever-changing array of light played on LED
tubes integrated into the Director Park Canopy. The digital video only emits from the
lighted bars, and provides a sense of movement through an abstract tapestry of light
and color. If you stand farther away, or look in nearby reflections, the images are
compressed and give a clearer view of the video. nn"I filmed images and patterns of
natural phenomena like waves, clouds, fire, earthworms, and jellyfish to bring the
movement and randomness of nature into this mostly hardscaped park."",
"detailPageURL": "http://racc.org/public-art/search/?recid=2909.101",
"dimensions": "duration: 1:23:10",
"discipline": "video",
"fundingSource": "Percent for Art - City of Portland",
"thumbnailURL": "http://data.racc.org/pa_inventory/1844/1844thumb.jpg",
"location": "Director Park Canopy",
"mappableDiscipline": "other",
"medium": "Digital video on DVD",
"recordID": "2909",
"title": "Mercurial Sky",
"dataSource": "RACC",
"collection": "None",
"photoCredit": "RACC",
"artCopyright": "TBD",
"locationVerified": "YES",
"geometry": {
"coordinates": [
-122.681124,
45.518759
],
"type": "Point"
}
}
200. Linked Media
Who took that photo?
Who owns it?
Who can license it?
206. Fountains Street
RACC.org Murals Art?
Parks
& Rec
Available
Port of
Data
TriMet
Portland
Performance Temporary
Installations
Beaverton?
Hillsboro? Metro
Clark Convention
County? Center
Community?
Public Art
215. PDX Trees Collaborators
• Urban Forestry Commission
• City Council
• City of Portland’s Bureau of Technology
Services
• Max Ogden’s de-shapefile-ification
• Everyone who has contributed photos
216. Public Art PDX 1.0
Essential Collaborators
• Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC)
• The Office of Mayor Sam Adams
• City of Portland’s Bureau of Technology
Services
• City Attorney (and pro bono attorneys)
• Former Mayor Bud Clark! (see video)
217. Public Art PDX 1.0
Collaborators Provided:
• Graphic Design • Communication
• Metadata Design • Data Collection
• Data Entry/Import • Data Scrubbing
• Testing • Authority
• Marketing • Advocacy
218. Beyond 1.x:
Community Collection
Different Phases, Different Roles, New Participants
219. Expanding Roles for the
Community Collection
• Metadata Design • Curation
• Data Entry/Import • Photography
• Research and Verification • Communication
223. “While the map makes class and race
differences all the more evident, it's great to
learn about the few murals where I live and
I look forward to using this app on a walking
tour downtown soon.”
– Marshal Kirkpatrick, Read Write Web
234. – From How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built by
Stewart Brand, p13
Scan source: CC by-nc-sa via http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewcoulterenright/15663020/
235. The Pace of Each Layer
http://www.ecobuildtrends.com/2011/02/designing-in-layers.html
236. "A design imperative emerges: An adaptive building has
to allow slippage between the differently-paced systems of
Site, Structure, Skin, Services, Space plan, and Stuff.
Otherwise the slow systems block the flow of the
quick ones, and the quick ones tear up the slow ones
with their constant change. Embedding the systems
together may look efficient at first, but over time it is
the opposite and destructive as well."
– From How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built by
Stewart Brand, p20