Glasgow launches data hub to ’empower’ citizens 

Glasgow City Council has launched a new online data resource to “open up” access to data it manages.

The new ‘open data hub’ offers a view into how Glasgow operates and aims to help develop the city’s digital economy.

It is a place to access data, visualise it, and to share stories about what it means for Glaswegians.

The hub is also a focus for “empowerment” of citizens and stakeholders, by making a wide range of data used by the council and partners to inform decision-making easy to access and explore.

Additionally, it allows for engagement with Scots around particular themes supported by open data.

The platform was developed to help deliver on some of the underlying objectives of the current Digital Glasgow Strategy, which sets out the council’s priorities and commitments to advance the city’s digital economy and transform its public services through the use of digital technology, data and innovation.

The council has promised to add a wide range of data to the hub in future on subjects including the environment, transport and movement, the economy, education and government.

Some of the information already available demonstrates the impact of the pandemic at a neighbourhood level. For example, cycling in the city centre dropped by 20 per cent as a result of the lockdowns in 2020, with a slow recovery in numbers in 2021.

The data also seeks to monitor Glasgow’s recovery. For example, city centre footfall increased as a result of the recent easing of restrictions in late July and early August – there were five per cent more people in the city centre during August than in July. 

This figure jumped by 86 per cent for late night footfall where the hours of midnight to 4am were compared.

Councillor Angus Millar, chairman of the Digital Glasgow Board, said: “The use of data can help us understand our city better, support innovation and drive improvements in the delivery of public services. Glasgow’s Open Data hub offers us – the council and our partners, as well as residents, business and organisations in the city – the chance to take a new and unique look at how Glasgow operates, to see what works well in the city and how it could be improved.

“We want to allow people to engage with the portal to not only gain information on aspects of the city they are interested in, but to help shape decision-making and understand how the delivery of public services can be transformed through the use of data. This is a great resource, and we will be working with communities and partners across the city to build on the content already available on the portal to make sure we can get the most out of the opportunities our Open Data hub can offer the city.”