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IMAGINE BOSTON 2030

Using R-Shiny to keep ourselves accountable and empower the public

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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IMAGINE BOSTON 2030

  • First long-term plan in 50 years
  • Collaborating with >18 other City initiatives
  • 15,000 voices contributed
  • Data-driven approach
  • Resulted in 5 major goals

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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IB:2030 GOALS

Wanted a way to empower the public to hold the City accountable

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  1. Encourage affordability, reduce displacement, and improve quality of life
  2. Increase access to opportunity
  3. Drive inclusive economic growth
  4. Promote a healthy environment and prepare for climate change
  5. Invest in open space, arts & culture, transportation, and infrastructure

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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IB:2030 METRICS AND DATA

  • Each goal has 3-4 metrics associated
  • Research Division at Boston Planning and Development Agency aggregated and analyzed data
  • Analytics Team visualized

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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https://analytics.boston.gov/app/imagine-boston

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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BUILDING A TOOL FOR THE PUBLIC

  • Data visualizations are often inaccessible
  • Simple charts
    • Lines, bars, and maps
  • User inputs are clear

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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WHY SHINY

  • Quickly prototype and iterate while still being custom
  • Flexibility
    • Charts/visualizations
    • Dashboard layout - design guidelines
  • Ability to integrate other libraries

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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LIBRARIES WE RELY ON

Huge thanks to creators and contributors!

  • dplyr/tidyverse for data manipulation
  • Leaflet for mapping
  • Ploty for charts
  • Shinydashboard for layout
  • Colorbrewer for palettes

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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WILD CODE

  • Ended up with big, messy files with same stuff all over them
  • Copying and pasting all the time
  • Editing code in a thousand different places

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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ADOPTING MODULES

Taking pieces of code and making them reusable throughout an application

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TITLE

SUB-TITLE

INPUT

DATA

SOURCE TEXT

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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CLEANER CODE, REUSABLE CHUNKS

Old ur.r

Old server.r

New files for same chart:

Less code, easier to read

Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION

  • Wanted a way to make their data and analyses more accessible to the public
  • Conducted workshops to show how to use modules
  • Worked to build out more functionality and modules to meet needs
  • BPHC currently working on 2017 report using Shiny

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Mayor Martin J. Walsh

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THANK YOU

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Kayla Patel

kayla.patel@boston.gov

@paylakatel

“PULL QUOTE TEXT. LABORITA CUS ETUS DANDAE DOLUPTATE EOLUM FACCUPTA MOLENDE MQUAES.”

Janet Doe�Boston City Councillor

Mayor Martin J. Walsh