Data analytics hackathon begins on Saturday

9/2/2019

PUNE: The data analytics hackathon commenced on Saturday, where the participants will analyse data of public institutions to make it meaningful for both the citizens and the civic body. The statistics department of the Savitribai Phule Pune University, the NGO ‘Datameet’ and the Pune Municipal Corporation, have organized the competition, which will go on till March 3.

The head of department of statistics at SPPU, Ramanathan TV, said, “The PMC’s open data portal is updated regularly. But not many people know how to use it. The students will use the available data and if it is not enough we will ask the PMC to put additional data online, to draw conclusions on social problems faced by people. There are around 10 such projects which will be presented on March 3 and uploaded on the PMC website for further use.”

Ramanathan gave an example of the data on trees, “Our students will analyse it to understand which ward is ahead of the others, or which the areas where most deforestation has occurred are,” he said, giving another example of the PMPML data. “The students will analyse the PMPML data to understand after how many hours of running, the buses break down, which routes are prone to such breakdowns, among other details. The winners will be given prizes by Tata Consultancy Services,” he said.

Namitha Pais, a second year MSc Statistics student, said, “We want to study traffic in Pune and understand the most congested areas, its causes, among other details. Secondly, the PMPML has problems such as bus break downs, or buses not completing their routes, among others. After analysing the data, we will aim to find answers to our common queries as citizens, so that the officials can take note and do the needful to ease the traffic situation.”

Gaurav Dhokre, a second-year master’s student in modelling and simulation, said, “There were many topics such as environment, education, electricity. The education data was well-documented, so we selected it. We aim to help parents make an informed choice while selecting a school. We are looking at what matters while taking admission - enrolment, management, facilities, among other details.”