Taking open data to the next level

About Beyond 2.0

Sean Kibbee
Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Sean Kibbee is an expert in mobile app development, collaborative platforms, open source software and open data. Sean brings to Beyond 2.0 his passion for using technology to find solutions to everyday problems. With 14 years of experience in IT innovation and project management under his belt, Sean has both deep technical expertise as well as an innovative spirit. Sean is the "IT guy" who can take new technologies and combine effectiveness with user-friendly design to create products for the masses.



FAQs

What would you say you do here?

A.
Beyond 2.0 is a new startup with a mission of developing innovative ways to use Open Data to provide businesses with a value-added service for their customers (and hopefully make the world a little bit of a better place at the same time!).

What does THAT mean?

A.
Our first products are a real-time bus arrival display and a mobile web app ( www.OCBusTracker.com) for Ottawa's transit system. Using real-time GPS data from OCTranspo, thanks to the City of Ottawa’s Open Data initiative, we are able to create a customized display for the bus stops near any location in the city as well as provide real-time information on Ottawa buses through our mobile app.

Put another way: after the installation of a wifi-enabled display screen using our custom open data feed, your customers can enjoy a coffee and doughnut without ever having to worry about missing their bus again! And our mobile web app gives you a new way to directly reach your customers (or potential customers) who are transit users.

Interesting. Does it actually work?

A.
You bet! We are able to show when the next three buses will be arriving (not just when they are scheduled to arrive) and even their exact location on the map - all within approximately 60 seconds of accuracy.

What exactly is Open Data? If it’s “open”, why do I need you anyway?

A.
Open Data refers to the growing practice by governments around the world of releasing more and more of their internal data at no cost and in machine-readable formats. By doing so, they create the opportunity for a new class of entrepreneurs (like us at Beyond 2.0!) to take all of this raw data and repurpose it in new and innovative ways.

Even though the data we use for our products is open and freely available to anyone via the Internet, it is provided by governments “as is”. This means usually it is nothing more than strings of numbers and words in massive spreadsheets and text files. Where Beyond 2.0 comes in is taking that raw data and applying our secret recipe that calls for equal parts vision and coding magic to produce a useful product or app that provides businesses with a value-added service for their customers. Done right, this should be a win-win-win situation for businesses, governments and citizens!

Is the City okay with you using their data this way? I don’t want to get in any trouble.

A.
Absolutely. One of the reasons for governments to set-up Open Data initiatives is to allow for developers to repurpose that data to create innovative new applications for citizens. For example, see the Terms of Service for the City of Ottawa’s Open Data initiative.

So it’s legit and my customers won’t miss their bus. Got it. What else you got?

A.
We are starting with our real-time GPS bus arrival time display system and web app in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (which the founders of Beyond 2.0 are proud to call home). However, the possibilities for Open Data are truly global and restricted only by one’s imagination - so our sincere hope is that this is just the start!

You had me at “real-time bus arrival display”! When can I get one and how much does it cost?

A.
We are currently in the testing phase of our open data display service at our pilot location inside the Treats at 294 Albert Street (at the corner of Kent Street) in Ottawa. If you are in the neighbourhood, stop on by for a coffee and check it out!

If you are interested in real-time bus arrival information as a service for your customers, then please sign-up on our pre-order page. You can also contact us if you have any questions at: contact@beyond20.ca