Open Data and Open Source Enabling Smart City Development: A Case Study in Hame Region

Open data offers possibilities to accelerate both innovations and co-creation activities in cities and regions. Likewise, open source software development is an efficient way to create new services. Open data can be used to promote better information sharing and offers various opportunities for third-party developers. Co-creation improves the commitment of different stakeholders and ensures that the created solutions are based on real needs. For these reasons, it is only logical that these two themes are linked together in smart city activities. This paper presents a practical open data and co-creation development made in the region of Hame, Finland. This paper contributes to smart cities research by describing the development of two smart city services: the Tavastia Events API and "Hameenlinna in pocket" smartphone application. It describes strategies that facilitate beneficial participation and collaboration in smart city open data initiatives. Based on Linked Events, an open source solution developed for the city of Helsinki, modification and implementation were made to create a centralized and open service, to collect and publish event-related data via an application programming interface (API) in the flame region. A smartphone application was then developed, making use of the developed Events API and other data sources, to provide citizens with the most common digital services, and a platform for digital participation in Hame.