The last few days I have spent some time trying to add support for -the Open311 API in the -Norwegian FixMyStreet service. -Earlier I believed Open311 would be a useful API to use to submit -reports to the municipalities, but when I noticed that the -New Zealand version of -FixMyStreet had implemented Open311 on the server side, it occurred to -me that this was a nice way to allow the public, press and -municipalities to do data mining directly in the FixMyStreet service. -Thus I went to work implementing the Open311 specification for -FixMyStreet. The implementation is not yet ready, but I am starting -to get a draft limping along. In the process, I have discovered a few -issues with the Open311 specification.
- -One obvious missing feature is the lack of natural language -handling in the specification. The specification seem to assume all -reports will be written in English, and do not provide a way for the -receiving end to specify which languages are understood there. To be -able to use the same client and submit to several Open311 receivers, -it would be useful to know which language to use when writing reports. -I believe the specification should be extended to allow the receivers -of problem reports to specify which language they accept, and the -submitter to specify which language the report is written in. -Language of a text can also be automatically guessed using statistical -methods, but for multi-lingual persons like myself, it is useful to -know which language to use when writing a problem report. I suspect -some lang=nb,nn kind of attribute would solve it.
- -A key part of the Open311 API is the list of services provided, -which is similar to the categories used by FixMyStreet. One issue I -run into is the need to specify both name and unique identifier for -each category. The specification do not state that the identifier -should be numeric, but all example implementations have used numbers -here. In FixMyStreet, there is no number associated with each -category. As the specification do not forbid it, I will use the name -as the unique identifier for now and see how open311 clients handle -it.
- -The report format in open311 and the report format in FixMyStreet -differ in a key part. FixMyStreet have a title and a description, -while Open311 only have a description and lack the title. I'm not -quite sure how to best handle this yet. When asking for a FixMyStreet -report in Open311 format, I just merge title an description into the -open311 description, but this is not going to work if the open311 API -should be used for submitting new reports to FixMyStreet.
- -The search feature in Open311 is missing a way to ask for problems -near a geographic location. I believe this is important if one is to -use Open311 as the query language for mobile units. The specification -should be extended to handle this, probably using some new lat=, lon= -and range= options.
- -The final challenge I see is that the FixMyStreet code handle -several administrations in one interface, while the Open311 API seem -to assume only one administration. For FixMyStreet, this mean a -report can be sent to several administrations, and the categories -available depend on the location of the problem. Not quite sure how -to best handle this. I've noticed -SeeClickFix added -latitude and longitude options to the services request, but it do not -solve the problem of what to return when no location is specified. -Will have to investigate this a bit more.
- -My distaste for web forums have kept me from bringing these issues -up with the open311 developer group. I really wish they had a email -list available via Gmane to use for -discussions instead of only -a forum. Oh, -well. That will probably resolve itself, one way or another. I've -also tried visiting the IRC channel #open311 on FreeNode, but no-one -seem to reply to my questions there. This make me wonder if I just -fail to understand how the open311 community work. It sure do not -work like the free software project communities I am used to.
+Jeg hadde anledning, så jeg deltok på +minnemarkeringen +på Stortinget i dag. Det var en fin markering, og jeg likte talene. +For meg er demokrati, åpenhet og humanitet fundert på frihet, som jeg +håper vi alle vil bidra til å beskytte i tiden som kommer. Jeg +registrerer at det i Danmark +diskuteres +å redusere friheten. Vi bør vite bedre her i Norge. Stoltenberg +berørte retten til å feile, og den er nært knyttet til muligheten til +å lykkes. Begge deler krever at en har friheten til å prøve, og den +er viktig i et samfunn. Friheten til å prøve begrenses når kontroll +innføres.
+ +Det at noen av stolene i stortingssalen var tomme ga en litt +uventet ramme til markeringen. Jeg hadde regnet med at +stortingsrepresentanter, regjeringsmedlemmer og kongehus til sammen +ville fylle alle setene. Vet ikke hvem som skulle sittet der det var +ledige plasser, men antar noen var opptatt andre steder. Kanskje i +begravelser, eller rett og slett var blitt drept (har ikke hørt at +noen i Stortinget ble drept, men kan ha gått glipp av noe). Det at +noen manglet synes jeg illustrerte minnestundens poeng godt. Vi +mangler noen som skulle ha vært blant oss. Det kan aldri gjøres om, +og bør aldri glemmes.