Urban Dog Spaces:the Openness of Dog-Related Data in the City of Zagreb, Croatia

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 20(2), 125-135, 2022 URBAN DOG SPACES: THE OPENNESS OF DOG-RELATED GOVERNMENT DATA IN THE CITY OF ZAGREB, CROATIA* Filip Varga1, 2, **, Larisa Hrustek3, Karlo Kević4, Frederika Welle Donker5 and Dragica Šalamon1 1 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture Zagreb, Croatia 2 Centre of Excellence for Biodiversity and Molecular Plant Breeding 1 Zagreb, Croatia 3 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics 1 Varaždin, Croatia 4 University of Zagreb, Faculty of Geodesy 1 Zagreb, Croatia 5 Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment 1 Delft, Netherlands 1 DOI: 10.7906/indecs.20.2.5 Regular article Received: 15 January 2022. Accepted: 3 March 2022. ABSTRACT Dogs and dog owners are increasingly present in modern urban spaces, and the construction and maintenance of urban infrastructure that includes places for them has become standard in most major cities. We wanted to investigate the extent to which the City of Zagreb is adhering to open data principles when it comes to dogrelated data it makes available to citizens.The openness and quality of dog-related data was analysed in three steps. First, dog-related data was searched on various official websites and portals of the city and the data formats were ranked according to the five-star system for open data. In the second step, based on the available data, a field survey was conducted in 2020 to verify the found datasets and geocode them using a GPS device. In addition, the locations obtained from the local community of dog owners through social media were reviewed. Finally, data obtained from the survey was cross-checked with the government data to assess their quality. Government data on the locations of 300 dog waste bins and 72 green areas where dogs can be walked off-leash were available in Croatian from one or more government sources. All data sets found received the lowest score in terms of open data formats. Field survey revealed differences between the data and reality. The location of 40 dog waste bins could not be confirmed, and additional 53 bins were found that were not mentioned in the data. As for green areas, there were reportedly 10 dog parks in the city of Zagreb. The survey confirmed all locations and discovered 12 more, five of which were mentioned in the data but not designated as dog parks. The results suggest that the municipality needs to update the already open datasets more frequently. Improved implementation of these datasets into existing city data portals or the creation of a separate hub for dog owners would greatly improve the availability and reuse of this data by citizens. KEY WORDS open data, Canis familiaris, city infrastructure, local government data CLASSIFICATION JEL: O18 *This is the extended version of the abstract published in: Vujić, M. and Šalamon, D., eds.: Book of abstracts of the National Open Data Conference. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Traffic and Transport Sciences,*Zagreb, 2021. **Corresponding author: ; +385 1 239 3845; **University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture, Svetošimunska cesta 25, HR – 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia F. Varga, L. Hrustek, K. Kević, F. Welle Donker and D. Šalamon INTRODUCTION Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) have been among man's most loyal animal companions since they were domesticated from their wild wolf ancestors 15 millennia ago [1]. As social structures have evolved throughout history, their popularity has continued to increase, and in recent years, dog ownership has peaked worldwide [2]. In addition, the notion that a dog's primary role is to guard the household and accompany its owners on hunts is now largely a thing of the past. Other benefits of dog ownership, such as companionship, social contact (with other dog owners), and time spent outdoors, are becoming more common, and the number of dogs in urban areas is increasing [3]. With this in mind, the need for a well-developed dog-friendly infrastructure in modern cities arises. Dog walking and using public spaces are the main activities of dog owners in urban areas [4]. With some exceptions, there is surprisingly little research on the development of urban infrastructure for dog owners. Most of the research to date has been aimed at examining the effects of dog ownership on social interactions [5]. In recent years, there has been a growing trend for cities to publish data according to Open Data standards, link data from multiple sources, allow citizens to generate and update data using mobile apps and application programming interfaces (APIs), and use this data in policy making [6]. Governments (local, regional, and national) have a great responsibility to inform their citizens about existing and developing infrastructures and services in an appropriate and user-friendly manner, and to allow citizens to express their needs [7]. As more and more citizens become computer literate, governments (both local and national) are under pressure to disseminate and collect important information via mobile apps [8], social media [9] or APIs [10] with more or less success. As Open Data concepts that have been slowly but steadily implemented in Croatia over the last 10 years through policy making, development of data portals and formal obligation to publish data of public institutions, we finally see the positive trend of opening government data in various sectors. In terms of local governments, we can see that the larger cities are keeping up with the national trend, while other cities are significantly lagging behind in publishing their data [11]. Rijeka and Zagreb are definitely ahead in terms of opening data with 175 and 75 datasets opened, respectively from various categories such as locations of parking spots for cars and bicycles, bus stops, and educational facilities, to name a few [12, 13]. Dog-related government data in cities, presented in a simple and user-friendly manner, is of great benefit not only to existing dog owners, informing them of changes in dog infrastructure, but also to out-of-town visitors (e.g., tourists) navigating the city with their dogs. Another important stakeholder group that data relating to dog content would be of great interest is the bussiness sector aimed at dog owners, such as pet supplies stores, veterinary practices and dog grooming services in identifying city areas with great potential for expansion of their bussiness. The aim of this research was to determine the extent to which government information about dog-related content is available to end users, in what form, and the quality of that data. The research was based on a simple social question, "What dog-related content is available in the city of Zagreb?" in order to measure the maturity of the dog owner-focused open data ecosystem in Zagreb. MATERIALS AND METHODS To assess the openness of dog-related government data in the city of Zagreb, a mixed approach was used. In the first ph (...truncated)