NYC puts air quality, city demographics and public hearing data on Filecoin network

New York City and Protocol Labs are making metropolis information disposable connected Filecoin, a decentralized record retention network.

Image: Protocol Labs

New York City's Open Data bureau is moving with Protocol Labs to enactment metropolis accusation connected the Filecoin web arsenic portion of an experimentation with the decentralized web. This five-year task volition let New York City to trial the thought that decentralized retention exertion tin amended authorities operations. 

Filecoin is simply a peer-to-peer web that stores files, with "built-in economical incentives to guarantee files are stored reliably implicit time," according to the Filecoin Foundation. As Coinbase describes it, Filecoin "functions arsenic a marketplace wherever developers tin rent retention space." Instead of getting that abstraction from AWS oregon Google Cloud, the files are divided up and stored connected a globally distributed web of computers." Filecoin is just implicit a twelvemonth old and a task of Protocol Labs. 

City officials said successful a property merchandise that moving information onto the decentralized web volition amended reliability, resiliency and information portion besides reducing costs. City officials spot the decentralized web arsenic a hedge against azygous points of failure, specified arsenic the Facebook outage successful October.

SEE: <strong>EY's caller blockchain level could lick a large taxation headache</strong>

Marta Belcher, committee seat of the Filecoin Foundation, said the champion mode to sphere and support humanity's astir important accusation is to grow and fortify the decentralized web. 

"No azygous person, institution oregon federation should beryllium liable for preserving our corporate history," Belcher said. " Without bully governance, this accusation is astatine hazard of being manipulated oregon lost." 

This task with NYC represents the adjacent measurement successful gathering the adjacent procreation of the web by preserving invaluable nationalist information connected the Filecoin network, Belcher said.

Also, nationalist documents from erstwhile metropolis decisions tin pass aboriginal policies and the city's tech leaders privation to sphere specified data. Finally, according to the city, Filecoin web retention is much outgo effectual than accepted retention providers. The Filecoin Foundation and Protocol Labs are splitting the outgo of the project.

The archetypal 3 information sets uploaded to the Filecoin web see City Record Online, a database of notices published successful the City Record newspaper, including nationalist hearings and meetings, nationalist auctions and sales; NYC aerial prime surveillance data; and a dataset of demographic statistic by zip code.

Open Data was developed to amended accessibility, accountability and transparency of New York City's nationalist data. It makes the information published by New York City agencies and different partners publically disposable with the extremity of gathering spot with assemblage members. 

How Filecoin works

The ngo of the Filecoin task is to make a decentralized, businesslike and robust instauration for humanity's information. Users who excavation these coins lend retention capableness to beryllium utilized by Filecoin customers to store data. There are 2 types of Filecoin miners: Storage miners who store files and information connected the web and retrieval miners who supply speedy pipes to retrieve files.

Today, much than 3,500 retention providers astir the satellite collectively connection much than 13EiB of retention capableness to the network, according to the Foundation.

The Filecoin Foundation governs the Filecoin network, funds improvement projects, and supports the maturation of the Filecoin ecosystem. The Foundation offers grants to developers funny successful gathering the Filecoin ecosystem oregon expanding the idiosyncratic base. 

Protocol Labs is an open-source research, improvement and deployment laboratory and its projects see IPFS, Filecoin and libp2p, a modular networking stack.

10 cities gain information certification

The What Works Cities initiative from Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded information certifications to 10 US cities to admit their enactment successful utilizing information to pass and amended metropolis operations. Michele Jolin, CEO and co-founder of Results for America, the pb spouse successful the What Works initiative, said successful a property merchandise that these cities connection a roadmap astir however to usage information that different municipalities tin travel arsenic they put wealth from the American Rescue Plan Act. 

These cities received the What Works Cities Certification from the Bloomberg Foundation:

• Baltimore, MD
• Buffalo, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Denver, CO
• Durham, NC
• Evanston, IL 
• Long Beach, CA
• Miami, FL
• Rochester, NY
• Salinas, CA

Jennifer Park, founding manager of the What Works Cities Certification, said successful a property merchandise the winning cities are improving 911 effect times, much tiny concern support, little discarded and less emissions and greater civic engagement with residents.

Long Beach utilized information to micro-target implicit 1,250 COVID-19-impacted section businesses to grant much than $700,000 successful grants. Salinas launched a programme to way and respond to 24 information points to assistance pass younker and pack unit prevention strategies which resulted successful a 60% diminution successful younker violence.

Durham utilized information to region barriers to employment for 46,000 radical by suspending fines and fees and restoring residents' driver's licenses. Miami deployed a resident-powered app to assistance representation the highest-risk areas for flooding. Buffalo utilized unfastened information to place properties successful request of pb remediation and secured $2.3 cardinal successful national funds to bash so.

Since 2017, 50 cities person achieved National Standard of Excellence successful Using Evidence and Data to Improve City Services, Increase Transparency, and Promote Civic Engagement, according to the organization. 

The certification programme assesses U.S. cities connected data-driven decision-making practices, specified arsenic utilizing information to acceptable goals and way progress, allocate funding, measure the effectiveness of programs and execute desired outcomes from contracts with extracurricular vendors. The programme besides measures whether cities are publically and transparently communicating astir the usage of information and evidence. Each metropolis that participates successful the certification process receives a customized appraisal that identifies their unsocial strengths and opportunities for improvement. What Works Cities partners past supply coaching, grooming and method assistance to assistance metropolis leaders amended their information and grounds capabilities, follow caller practices related to the certification and thrust outcomes for their community.

Also see

• IoT instrumentality attacks treble successful the archetypal fractional of 2021, and distant enactment whitethorn enarthrosis immoderate of the blame
• Smart Cities Robotic Challenge puts machines to mundane tests of riding elevators and delivering food
• Ford's EVs volition beryllium capable to powerfulness buildings, but infrastructure challenges could dilatory electrification
• How aerial photography integrated with GIS systems tin assistance marque cities smarter