Interactive Cork area website launched
The Cork Dashboard is open to all, and offers data on parking, traffic, weather, house prices, census information and more — all visualised to make the data as accessible as possible.
Part of the SFI-funded Building City Dashboards Project, the new site has plans for future development beyond what is available today.
Claire Davis, project co-ordinator, smart cities and communities at Cork City Council, said that while at present users can view planning applications on maps on the site, the development of interactive virtual reality and augmented reality city modelling will someday allow the public to view 3D artists’ impressions of what proposed developments will look like from various vantage points.
While the data on the Dashboard is obviously beneficial to policy makers and planners, Ms Davis said it also has practical day-to-day uses for the public.
“The Cork Dashboard isn’t all things to all people, but it offers different things to different people.
“So for example at Christmas time it’s busy in the city centre with lots of traffic. I was able to look up the Dashboard, see that the car park in Paul St was full, and so I changed my journey to go to a different car park that the Dashboard told me had spaces available,” she explained.
The Building City Dashboards Project is based in the National Centre for Geocomputation in Maynooth University.
It designed the framework for the Dashboard, while the Cork Smart Gateway — an initiative developed by Cork City Council, Cork County Council, Nimbus and Tyndall — provided the datasets that drive the site.
It also provides real-time updates on the availability of bikes and spaces in the city’s public bike scheme.
The Cork Dashboard is live on www.corkdashboard.ie and the launch will take place today at the Cork International Hotel at noon.
