SINGAPORE — Instead of poring over spreadsheets and data tables found across a myriad of Government websites, the public can now access more Government data on topics ranging from lightning activity to property rentals, as the Government continues its e-governance push.
The Government will be releasing more data to the public, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday, calling the move a “proactive” one that will “encourage more feedback, as well as research and analysis on issues of public concern”.
Users of the Government’s OneMap site can select from a dropdown menu what data they wished to peruse with respect to the geographical area they searched for. For example, in future, the Government will add rental transactions for all public and private properties onto the interactive map. Users can then overlay such information against, say, school locations or transport nodes to keep themselves informed when deciding to rent a property.
Another example is PopulationQuery, a new service launched yesterday on OneMap that allows users to sieve data on Singapore’s population according to filters like age group and household monthly income. Such a service, when combined with other filters such as restaurant clusters, could help businesses decide on their product mix or whether to even set up shop.
The Ministry of Manpower will launch a Labour Market Statistical Information site next month, which generates graphs and tables using the ministry’s survey data, allowing employees to benchmark their salaries against the national or an industry’s average.
Mr Tharman — who was speaking at the launch of the fourth eGov Global Exchange at Marina Bay Sands — said the move was meant to help meet “increasingly dynamic, multi-faceted and complex” challenges and reach out to tech-savvy citizens, and the information would be presented in a user- and machine-friendly manner.
The news was greeted with cautious optimism from experts TODAY spoke to.
Director of International Property Advisor Ku Swee Yong welcomed the move, but said users should be careful of relying on raw daw that would be interpreted wrongly. For example, rental figures might not capture extras — rent-free periods for businesses, whether a property has been renovated — that affect the final price.
Director of Research and Consultancy at Chesterton Suntec International Colin Tan said rentals could be driven up if individuals flocked to areas with low rentals indicated, prompting landlords to hike rents, but added it is “still better to have more information”.
National University of Singapore sociologist Tan Ern Ser said he hoped to see more data on poverty, social mobility, citizens, permanent residents and foreigners. “Quality data matter for academic research and policy analysis.”
As for the labour market, human resources consultancy Hudson Singapore’s Executive General Manager Andrew Tomich said more information “may help spur competitiveness and productivity from both employees and employers”. But he echoed concerns that the data, which might not capture information such as work experience or qualifications, might be misread.
Mr Tharman also announced yesterday that the Government was launching Corporate Pass — similar to SingPass — which will allow authorised staff to access multiple corporate e-services for a company through one common system, come early 2016.
Population data now available on OneMap
DPM Tharman says more information will be made available on Government websites following Population Query launch today
Eugene Neubronner Today Online 17 Jun 13;
SINGAPORE — Big data has been given a push, with more the Government planning to make more information available on various Government websites here soon, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmaguratnam said today (June 17).
Speaking at the launch of the eGov Global Exchange this morning, Mr Tharman announced more information will be made available for citizens to tap on — and in ways that allow users to make more sense of them.
One example is Population Query launched today. It is the latest service on the Singapore Land Authority’s OneMap website and gives users graphic and visual representations of Singapore’s demographics. This can then be combined with other services such as school locations or property prices to give citizens new insights into, for example, the best place to move.
More than 1,700 services are already available online, he noted.
Last year, the government revamped the ecitizen portal, a move that was “motivated by a simple principle that we must start with information and services that customers want”, said Mr Tharman.
Another example is the Ministry of Manpower’s Autobenchmark, to be launched later this year. It will collate and allow users to check salaries against the national benchmark, as one service.
Find population data on OneMap
Users can find information like age group of residents and housing type
Irene Tham Technology Correspondent
Straits Times 18 Jun 13;
DETAILED statistics on the island's population were yesterday incorporated into the Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) online map - providing a new research tool for citizens, businesses and academics.
The Population Query service will add 22 data sets to the current OneMap service, including the number of people of a certain age group living in an area and their residence type.
Instead of poring over spreadsheets from the Department of Statistics, users can now tell if a certain location has a high density of children aged up to four - say, for example, if they wanted to set up a childcare centre.
The service is available on the SLA's OneMap website www.onemap.sg
The new data sets - which also include ethnic group and economic status - come from the Department of Statistics.
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced the service, saying: "Population Query will be very useful for citizens, businesses and academics.
"If you are thinking of buying a property, you may be interested in the demographics of the area, and at the same time you can see the schools, restaurants as well as property prices in the area - all at one glance."
Mr Tharman was delivering the opening address at the 4th bi-annual eGov Global Exchange 2013 conference held at Marina Bay Sands.
Other search queries include mode of transport, language spoken and religion.
Gelato shop owner Clarence Sim, 27, wished Population Query was available earlier. When setting up his shop in Bedok last year, he relied on anecdotal information of target customers from another shopkeeper nearby.
He said: "Now I can easily find such information displayed in an easy-to-digest way."
The upgrade is part of the SLA's continuous investment in OneMap, which has cost more than $2 million to develop to date.
The free service was launched three years ago to give netizens access to government location data - including land ownership, recently transacted property prices and schools within 1km of a building. To make government data more accessible, a central repository called data.gov.sg was launched in June 2011.
This brought together more than 8,000 data sets - from traffic information to census data and unemployment rates - from over 60 government agencies.
The Government plans to release more information to the public in the future.
The Ministry of National Development will be mapping past rental transactions for all public and private properties on OneMap. This will allow users to view the past rental prices of a particular area and, at the same time, the location of the nearest train station before making rental decisions.
"By opening up more of our data, we can proactively crowd-source ideas and co-create applications with the wider community," said Mr Tharman.
In Singapore, more than 100 smartphone apps have been developed using government data.
They include GoThere.sg and Carpark@SG using the Land Transport Authority's information on electronic road pricing and carpark availability.
By the end of the year, all data sets on data.gov.sg and OneMap will be "machine-readable" - so that app developers can easily extract information to develop new services.
At present, only half of the 8,000 data sets on data.gov.sg are machine-readable.
itham@sph.com.sg
Background story
Check how your pay compares - online
WORKERS fretting over the size of their pay packets will be able to compare them with their peers' using a new government website.
The benchmarking service, which works across industries, is being launched "to help employers and job seekers make better decisions", said the Manpower Ministry.
At the moment, the public cannot make direct pay comparisons but can merely search for reports in PDF or document formats.
The new site, to be ready by next month, asks users to enter their monthly salary and job description.
They then select their industry, age group and the size of their organisation.
This allows them to find out whether their salary is in the top 25, 50 or 75 per cent for their particular group.
Organisations can also use the service to benchmark how they fare against national or industry norms. These could include wages, staff turnover and employment conditions such as flexible hours and annual leave.
Another new interactive feature allows users to look at statistics on national employment, unemployment and economic inactivity. It features comparisons across age groups and over time, with the information displayed in easy-to-digest charts and graphs.
The data for the analysis comes from surveys conducted by the ministry over the years on about 17,000 companies in Singapore.
It includes changes in wages, labour turnover and unemployment issues.
IRENE THAM