Greetings

The largest event in Tokyo in the year 2020 will be Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Association for Open Data of Public Transportation (ODPT) faces the largest milestone this year.

New innovations will be created once we publish data with public value. This fact has become widely known since the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Many in Japan are aware of this. The Adoption of “Open Data” by Transport for London (TfL) has produced many apps for transportation sector. The economic benefit in the first year alone is reputed to be 9.8 billion yen. ODPT has been established as an NPO in September 2015 to achieve open data of Tokyo's public transportation data with the participation of many public transportation operators, ICT vendors and academic institutions. ODPT has sought to create the appropriate open data platform of public transportation in Tokyo anticipating Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020. Tokyo, unlike London, has many private transportation operators.

Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo is an annual contest that has been held since 2017 by ODPT as the main host. Anticipating the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020, we have called for the apps that will make it easy for visitors to Tokyo, who have different characteristics and needs including foreigners and challenged people to use the public transportation, to reach destinations in Tokyo. In the third challenge, for which awards are given at the ceremony, open data of public transportation were made available by 32 operators including East Japan Railway (JR East), Tokyo Metro, Bureau of Transportation of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and others. Additionally, the contest has made available intra-station maps which have been created by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and Tokyo Metropolitan government. In the end, there were approximately 90 submissions from 1,000 registered developers within Japan and from abroad. Based on the conclusion of a fair judge meeting, we are going to give two Grand Awards, four Excellence Awards, and six Judge's Special Awards to selected entries.

Currently, the fourth Challenge has been already under way. Additionally public transportation open data center has been up and running since last May in order to keep publishing data after the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. We intend to create the foundation for public transportation open data platform in Japan where the expectation runs high today of the merging of public transportation service and ICT and MaaS (Mobility as a Service) has attracted much attention.

I would like to thank the contestants who sent in many original works, and the public transportation operators and others who have helped to hold this contest. Thank you all for your continuing support.

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I would like to thank the contestants in the 3rd Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo for submitting many apps and ideas.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has been promoting the use of open data to improve the transparency of the governance and the quality of services offered to its citizens for some time. TMG has decided to support the 3rd Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo as co-host. TMG let Toei train timetable, operation status, train location information, etc. be published as open data for the contest. The contestants were requested to submit apps and ideas that take advantage of the data to help many people including the TMG citizens, overseas visitors, people with disabilities and others.

"Mini Tokyo 3D" and "UpNext" have received the Grand Awards. Both works visualize the open data. And they go even further. "Mini Tokyo 3D" allows us to find out where a particular train is running on the ground or under ground using 3D background, and is pleasure to watch. "UpNext" uses the user's current position to figure out what stations are nearby and infers available trains. Once the user is on a train, it figures out automatically on what train the user rides. It adds great value to open data provided by public transportation operators and thus has made the providers of open data realize the merit of the open data approach.

I hasten to add that there are many other wonderful submissions and the judges had tough time to select the award winners. I would like to thank the contestants again for participating in the contest.

In December 2019, TMG drafted "Future Tokyo: Strategies and Visions" that defines the visions of Tokyo in the 2040s and the strategies that should be adopted before the 2030s to achieve the visions. "Realization of Smart Tokyo" is among the 20 visions. This vision states that the citizens of Tokyo shall enjoy high quality of living by fulfilling the full potential of Tokyo using digital technology.

Many overseas visitors will come to Tokyo more than ever this year since Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held. If the visitors can move smoothly in Tokyo thanks to digital technology, they can enjoy Tokyo fully and leave with a lasting sweet memory of Tokyo.

In order to support such convenient transportation that anyone can use, TMG shall use open data of public transportation and others, and will collaborate with many parties to promote and deploy such services to wider part of the society.

Lastly, I would like to thank the participants of the contest again, and wish a bright future to the people who assemble here today.

Review

Tokyo is said to have the most complex public transportation system in the world. Many smart ideas from developers the world over were submitted to take advantage of the open data concerning trains, buses, and flights along with the intra-station maps which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has been assembling.

We selected two works for Grand Award. "Mini Tokyo 3D" which shows the transportation status in Tokyo 3D map in realtime has a very sophisticated finish and it is one step ahead of similar apps. Also, the open availability of its source code on GitHub was given high marks. "Up Next" which boasts no manual input is technically advanced, and it pursues the ease of use based on a novel approach.

For Excellence Award, we selected four submissions that take advantage of published open data very well. "My Station Map" offers route guidance with barrier-free consideration by taking advantage of the intra-station map information. "One Day Trip" uses the flight data to discover flights for a day trip. "Bus Raku Ride" is an app for using buses in Tokyo. "Tokyo Departure Board" realizes the route guidance to the foreign visitors using all available data for railways, bus services, and airlines.

Judge's Special Award was given to the following submissions.: "When do you go? Powered by Worker Step," "Train Navi," "Tokyo Your-trip Orientation 3 BRUSHUP," "imacoco ~I'm here~," "iOS Framework for ODPT Data," and "Trip Planner for Muslim Tourists."

Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo has been held three times now. The contest has published richer data than before, and more polished submissions were sent in. I really hope that the submitted works would add to the smoother movement in Tokyo.　

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Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is promoting open data in the field of public transportation for improving users convenience by enriched information. MLIT participates in Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo as a co-host and provides intra-station maps and facility information.

Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games are finally going to take place this year. It is expected that numerous tourists from not only inside Japan but foreign countries visit Tokyo. It will be required to provide appropriate information which each of them needs. I believe open data is one of effective measures to deal with this requirement.

All of the entries are of high quality. In particular, the many applications that provide real-time operation or vehicle location information have ingenious user interface. I world really like to use them and it was very difficult to select award winners. Furthermore, there are varied applications that provide not only timetable or route search but types of rolling stocks, places where scenes of Japanese animations took place, or travel planning for Muslims. I have found a further potential of open data.

I am deeply grateful for the efforts of applicants realizing such diverse ideas. MLIT continuously makes efforts for the success of 4th Open Data Challenge that covers a period of Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.　

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At the outset, thank you everyone for coming today to celebrate the Open Data Challenge Contest. In 2020, probably the public transportation will be used as major means of mobility for various visitors.

Utilizing data related to public transportation, various visitors such as those who have never visited the metropolitan area and those with disabilities can reach their destinations smoothly, regardless of whether the destination is outdoors, indoors or underground. There many applications that can easily help us imagine that such enhanced city services will be provided.

In the 3rd Challenge, there were many very useful applications aside from the winning applications.

At this time, Tokyo Metropolitan Government provides the station layout data on some stations in addition to the data such as the timetable of metropolitan subway and bus, one of our open data initiatives that have been provided before.

We have seen the guidance applications using the station layout data submitted for this Challenge, and we can expect that more and more city services will be available for everyone to enjoy convenience, such as smooth guidance through the complicated structure of stations.

The 4th Challenge is also being held, Tokyo will continue to promote the appeal of open data through initiatives such as the Open Data Challenge.

Once more, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to all participants on this contest. Thank you very much.　

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Up to now, Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo has been held twice. Each time, novel works, works that provide convenient transportation for people using public transportation, works that provide a fun travel experience, and other wonderful works have been submitted.

This is the 3rd Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo. I was looking forward to the works that would create “Tokyo” which provides smooth journey to the destinations using public transportation now that the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games attract many tourists.

Indeed, this competition received a great number of applications that far exceeded my expectations. I learned the works through judging. These are wonderful works that make me long for Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. I think that people who use public transportation have a variety of needs, and we are very pleased that this challenge has created works that have the potential to meet these diverse needs.

The 4th Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo is currently being held. Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held during this challenge. We expect that more works will be born than ever, and that they will contribute to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. We will also work to ensure that not only Japanese people but also those who come to Tokyo from all over the world can enjoy the comfort of Japanese public transportation.

We sincerely appreciate your participation and acknowledge the contribution of the organizers. Thank you.

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Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo has been held three times now. We have attracted more polished submissions and sophisticated ideas than before. There are works to support the sightseeing visitors to Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and works written in languages other than Japanese, i.e. completely meant for overseas users.

Tokyo Metro Special Awards have been given to three submissions based mainly on the practicality of services and novelty of ideas.

All three award-winning works are web applications. This means that the users do not have to download an app in advance to obtain useful information. Thus, they are very practical. There are works that let users share the experience of "transportation." These help to usher in new value to the shared "transportation" experience. These works certainly use approaches based on novel ideas. I would like to express my sincere respect to the efforts by the all the contestants including the winners, and appreciate their participation in this contest.

I sincerely hope that the contestants in The 4th Open Data Challenge for Public Transportation in Tokyo currently held will take full advantage of public transportation open data and come up with many more works of varied characteristics.

Winners

Grand Award	Mini Tokyo 3D	Akihiko Kusanagi
	UpNext	Tatsuzo Osawa
Excellence Award	My Station Map	Kohei Osato
	OneDayTrip	Shinichi Ohno
	Bus Raku Ride	LECIP CORPORATION Tomoya Nakamura / Kazuna Adach / Yu Kato
	Tokyo Departure Board	Little Bird Solutions
Judge's Special Award	When do you go? Powered by Worker Step	Yuta Hatano
	TrainNavi	Akihiro Okuda / Tokiichiro Takahashi
	Tokyo Your-trip Orientation 3 BRUSHUP	Kazuhiro Nakamura
	imacoco ～I'm here～	Team imacoco
	iOS Framework for ODPTData	Takehito Ikema
	Trip Planner for Muslim Tourists	NIPPON KOEI R&D Center
East Japan Railway Special Award	wiev-map	Yuta Suito
	Sugukuru	Mikael LE GOFF
	TOKYO VENUE LOCATOR	Hirotaka Moriyama
Tokyo Metro Special Award	Tratal - Transport Information Portal	Haruki Kameda
	Tokyo anime location finder	KENBUNSYA CO.,LTD.
	SHARE WALK	Doshisha University Miyazaki Seminar Team 4 Takatoshi Ishijima / Tomoki Ishigaki / Miki Mabara / Chika Yanai / Ai Yasuda
Toei Transportation Special Award	t o b u s R	Yoji Shirai
	Tōkyō Day-Pass Search	MITSUI KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY CO., LTD. manufacturing club
	Doco? Bus Stop	Tomohiko Uebayashi
INIAD Special Award	Sounds of Transport	Umut Karakulak
	Delain!	Tenma Kamatani / Tomohiro Nozaki / Issui Ikeda
	The method of identifying the train which railway user takes by using smartphone sensors	Kazuhiro Noguchi

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