What data innovation can tell you about a city

Cities worldwide are increasingly using big data to identify trends before making decisions in what citizen services to provide and how, or where to invest in infrastructure. Data innovation is becoming the bread and butter of making cities smart and sustainable.
Seoul follows its residents’ mobility patterns of to optimize its public transportation, the Sudanese look at electricity and lights at night as proxy metrics of poverty, and the City of Angels has a big data-driven approach to reducing cycling accidents on its roads.
We’re riding a similar wave in Kosovo. With the Emergency Management Agency, UNDP Innovation Facility, UN Global Pulse, UN Kosovo Team, and Open Data Kosovo, we looked at how we can use big data to improve public services.
We tested out data innovation in one particular theme: Can we use anonymous emergency call records to the 112 service as a way to improve emergency response in Kosovo?
First, we ran an algorithm to find out initial patterns and timelines of emergency calls made in Prishtina. Then, we rolled up our sleeves to map the calls geographically too, this time with the help of Kosovars themselves on a crowdsourcing platform we developed.

Overall, we mapped about 24,000 calls in Prishtina. Our work revealed trends that go beyond just the life-saving services.
Here’s a taste of what we found:
- Roundabouts seem to be hotspots for traffic accidents. Traffic accidents also increase in the summer, likely a result of the diaspora visiting Kosovo during that period.
- More traffic accidents seem to happen during the afternoon rush hour (4–6 pm) than in the morning (7–9 am). Do people under-report when rushing to work? Or are they more tired and less likely to pay attention on the road in the afternoon?
- Thirsty, hungry, can’t wait? A large portion of illegally parked cars and blocked streets appears in the areas typical for restaurants and bars. Calls relating to noise complaints as a result of bars and clubs are also more common in the summer.
- Calls relating to animals (mostly wild dogs) are much more common in the winter months. This points to dogs being forced to come into more populated areas (and presumably illegal dumpsites) in search of food at that time of the year. Such correlations can reveal the less obvious linkages of urban issues.
- The nearby lake of Badovc is a great place for a swim. The road around it, however, seems to be victim to many landslides from the nearby hills. Big data can also help reveal needs for additional infrastructure.
- Reports of thefts and burglaries in and around Prishtina seem to generally be on the decline. Two peaks appear on an average day, one in the morning, presumably after discovering instances that occurred during night at home or the workplace; the other in the evening hours when people tend to return home to discover unpleasant news.
- Judging from the visible drop in 112 call volume around 19:00, we can infer people’s choice of dinner time (regardless of the season.)

While the methodology is not perfect and the spatial recording of the calls is not always precise to a few meters, also in view of protecting privacy, the aggregate trends accessible to everyone help authorities as well as citizens in Prishtina to get new insights about their city. Residents will also be able to demand better services that go far beyond the 112 response.
Why not take a road less travelled to get home safely? Why not put up extra safety measures to risky places? Restaurants providing better parking to its guests? Additional infrastructure in areas with water issues?
With this pilot, we proved that data innovation can help design new solutions to issues cities of 21st century face. Our partners from emergency services use this analysis as a prime example of why #DataMatters.
We will keep busy with public authorities in Kosovo, as well as the private sector on finding avenues of adding public value to the endless data streams out there.
All references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of UN Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
Originally published on July 18, 2017 at http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/blog/2017/7/18/What-data-innovation-can-tell-you-about-a-city.html
