Since 2010, Rennes Métropole and the municipality of Rennes have been using a web platform to publish their public data. More than two hundred data sets are available there, from local government departments of the Rennes municipality and Rennes Métropole and public or private partners of the territory (Kéolis, Citédia, TransMusicales, Les Champs Libres, etc.).

The contents of the platform include:

• real time data from the self-service bicycle hire system;
• practical and geolocalised information concerning more than 2,000 local public and parapublic bodies;
• all data from bus and metro network in real time thanks to collaborative work with the public transport delegatee (state of the facilities, flashcode waiting time application, location of stations);
• city budget;
• perimeters of urban redevelopment areas (ZAC);
• localisation of polling stations.

Each data set is associated with display tools to facilitate comprehension: a 3D model belonging to Rennes Métropole was developed to allow simple representation of the territorial public databases (moves, noise management, heat island, creation of light and shade, etc.). This model is accessible on the website and made available to citizens.

In order to stimulate data use for local economic development, Rennes Métropole instigated a competition with a prize of 50,000 euros in 2010 and 2011 for developing digital services that meet the population’s needs. Forty-three mobile applications and websites were created; the winner Handimap, for example, is a web application for calculating itineraries for people with reduced mobility. The public authorities encourage here the development of digital services for the most vulnerable population groups.

https://data.rennesmetropole.fr/page/home/ et http://www.handimap.org/rennes

Lessons learnt

• Rennes Métropole and the municipality made data available to contribute to the development of innovative systems for the benefit of the population.
• In public procurement contracts, Rennes Métropole opted to retain ownership of the data it ordered from its service providers.