pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

Last week, Wednesday, May 18 and Thursday, May 19, Microsoft hosted a two day workshop at Impact Hub in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. In attendance were representatives from PacTrans University Transportation Center, the Washington State Transportation Center, and the eScience Institute at the University of Washington; Washington State Department of Transportation; Sound Transit; Puget Sound Regional Council; ORCA; King County Metro; Pierce Transit; and the Seattle Department of Transportation; among others.

This workshop was held to continue working toward a Trusted Big Data Platform that was discussed here. The idea is to get various agencies, institutions, and private companies to begin sharing their data in a fluid and efficient way for the betterment of our entire regional transportation system. There are three major hurdles that have stood in the way of better data sharing in the past: (1) we don’t know what data sets others have, (2) we each collect data in different ways and formats, and (3) many of the most powerful data sets contain sensitive information that pertains to peoples’ privacy. This platform seeks to overcome all of those issues in one motion.

The question and this point is where to start. It isn’t realistic to get all of everyone’s data, along with all of the specific securities, set up at once and then “turn it on.” This is something that will need to be built in stages. The point of this workshop was to identify some “low hanging fruit.”

The key was to identify real concrete projects or questions to answer that transcend institutional silos. The next step was to identify all of the datasets that exist and all of the data sets that parties would like to exist. This was followed by some exploration of who owns each dataset and what the stipulations are that come with them (ie. who can see them? how must they be stored? what are the procedures for holding and disposal of said data? etc.)

All of the information shared at the workshop will give Microsoft a great opportunity to identify where to start. Hopefully Microsoft will pick a handful or projects or specific questions to use as pilots, showing how the data can be cleaned and shared with the proper security protocols so that all can have reassurance that the system will do as promised. We at PacTrans are very hopeful for the development of this platform as well as our continued collaboration with Microsoft as a regional partner.