SPORTS & RECREATION

How can we use data to improve visibility and access to physical activities

 

Challenge identifier: DPC2-2017

 

Proposed by

imin are a social good technology company based in the UK using open data to transform the health and fitness sector in a way that will affect the lives of millions of people globally.

Description

Two thirds of all adults (aged over 15) in Europe do not reach the recommended level of physical activity. People face a number of different barriers to participating in sport or physical activity – a key one being a lack of information on what’s available to them. Much of the information about sports and other physical activities – from which tennis courts can be booked, to which dance classes are available – is hidden away in old-fashioned websites, social media groups, PDFs or printed flyers. imin works with activity providers across the UK to help them publish their data in ways that are more accessible to application developers; and make the data bookable across a wide range of sport and wellness applications on the Web. The result is a rich dataset updated in real-time, with activity availability across many different sports, and connections to the relevant booking systems to book and pay for spaces.

Using shared data to make physical activity opportunities easier to find is one way to tackle the problem of inactivity and address the fact that many consumers demand leisure activities that are discoverable and bookable online. The aim of this challenge is to explore the opportunities created by the availability of imin’s data.

Data

imin will offer challenge winners free access to their API, normally available on a commercial license. This includes an availability API, which supplies event data and a booking API, which allows events to be booked and paid for. These give access to data about physical activities and sports activities from providers such as Fusion Lifestyle, Open Sessions and Go Mammoth.

More detailed information about the data can be found in our data catalogue. 

 

Expected outcomes

  • We are looking for solutions that can be built into customer-facing tools and services that cater for different types of users and help them become or remain active.
  • Novel algorithms and functionalities that can be built into customer-facing tools that cater for different types of consumers, and help them become or remain active.
  • Micro-targeting algorithms that lead to personalised recommendations of classes and physical activity opportunities for inactive, mass, and core consumers.
  • Algorithms and tools that encourage and incentivise behavioural change for these three groups of consumers.
  • Disruptive apps and services to go much further than existing solutions.

Expected impacts

  • Make people more aware of what physical activities they can access in their area.
  • Encourage people to participate in these activities.
  • Evidencing reach into inactive groups (through surveys before and after, for example)
  • Evidencing effectiveness of recommendations (by how many recommendations are taken up, for example)