Sometimes, the government isn"t always best, and according to IT Pro, web savvy geeks are showing them a better way to share public information.
Last year, the UK"s Cabinet Office ran a competition with a prize of £20,000 to anyone who can develop a new product that can improve public information communication.
Among the many ideas submitted, were a "Loo Finder" – a site accessible by mobile devices to let people find a toilet, and "School Maps", a site created by the Department for Children, Schools and Families allows people to enter their address and look up nearby schools. School Maps was one of the sites that won funding in last year"s competition.
Alexis Cleveland, director general of transformational government at the Cabinet Office, said "The site was better than the DCSF could do, and it would cost the government nothing to create. Such achievements show that well-meaning citizens should be given access to data, as they"re much better at sharing it than the government."
Some of the winners of the competition according to the Guardian included Location of Postboxes, a site that shows the user where the nearest post box is, UK Cycling, a site that allows people to plan their cycling route, and Can I Recycle It? a site that allows people to put in their post code and find out what their council recycles.