Collaborating on open-source software
When Hans Voerknecht developed a new way to evaluate accessibility a few years ago, he quickly knew that this would require good software. Although he could program himself, he also realized that his strength lies in devising the calculation method and not in software development. That is why he partnered with VORtech.
Accessibility is important in spatial planning. On the one hand, companies want to be accessible for their customers and employees and on the other hand, people want to live in easily accessible places. Accessibility is often interpreted as a short travel time, but what matters in the end is the extent to which people can reach important places: work, school, healthcare, shops.
The accessibility of a shopping center, for example, can be expressed as the number of people who can get to the shopping center from their home within an acceptable time.
A new approach to accessibility
But the total number of people who can get to the shopping center is not necessarily a good measure: it ignores the fact that not everyone has the same opportunities to travel. For people with a low income, travel costs are a much greater obstacle than for people with a high income. People with a low income do not have a car as often and therefore rely more on public transport. That is why a remote industrial area can be much more difficult to reach for them than for people with a high income.
This also means that when improving accessibility, you must consider the target group for which you want to improve accessibility. Building a new road may increase accessibility, but only for car owners. If the bus does not run more often, the new road is of no use to public transport passengers. And even if a bus does run, it is expensive for people with a low income.
It is precisely this distinction between target groups that makes Hans Voerknecht’s new method so special. He developed his method, which is called “Integral View of Accessibility” or IKOB for short in Dutch, with the support of various scientists, knowledge platform CROW and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Through his company Een Nieuwe Kijk, Hans markets the method with great success. Governments are enthusiastic because this method allows them to implement much more targeted social policy.
The early beginnings
When Hans started working on IKOB about five years ago, he sought help from VORtech for software development. Hans: “I knew Mark Roest from VORtech because he had done a few consultancy projects with a previous employer of mine, which went very well and pleasantly. So VORtech was the first party I thought of when I knew that software had to be created.”
Mark Roest remembers that early beginning very well: “Hans called me to say that he had a great idea, and he immediately said that he had no money to pay us. I like ambitious plans, so I immediately invited him to come and talk. During that first conversation I immediately recognized that this was a very interesting development. Very socially relevant.”
Hans had already had his method programmed by a traffic consultancy firm. But he soon discovered that a few things needed to be improved. The consultancy firm in question thought so too, but they needed extra money and people had to be made available. That’s no good, Hans thought, because this will happen more often.
When Hans presented this problem to Mark Roest of VORtech, Mark advised him to do the initial programming himself, where VORtech could offer him a bit of support. Mark: “Hans was willing to pay a little bit of money for that, but we certainly did not make a profit in that first period.”
Hans Voerknecht indeed made a first version of the software, asking programming questions from time to time to Erwin Mulder from VORtech. Erwin also helped him set up a version management system, so that the software could be managed properly from the start.
Towards professional software
In the meantime, great interest arose in Hans’ work. A motion in parliament even asked the minister to use IKOB in various analyses. Large cities approached Hans to evaluate accessibility plans and traffic consultancy firms approached him to use the method.
This made the software increasingly important. The fact that it was created by a non-professional software developer became more and more of a problem.
Ultimately, Hans found a financier in CROW, a knowledge center where “knowledge is developed about infrastructure and mobility in the physical living environment”. Given the importance of this new way of evaluating accessibility, they were prepared to finance and support an intensive improvement of the software.
CROW sees IKOB as an important development. They want everyone to be able to use this new method. Initially, the software will be distributed as a download but later this could become a web interface. But in any case, it is important that the software is of good quality.
Mark Roest from VORtech explains that making good quality software is quite challenging in this case: “You need special expertise for this. The software contains a lot of traffic engineering insights, and the algorithms are complex. As a software developer, you must not only be able to understand and optimize those algorithms, but also to work smoothly with domain experts, such as traffic engineers like Hans Voerknecht and the people from CROW. At VORtech we are used to that, and we find it fun and challenging, but not every IT company can do that.”
Hans Voerknecht, the original developer, confirms this: “By working intensively together, we can also make the right choices together. I made several assumptions during development. I have made those assumptions as explicit as possible, by putting many factors in a dashboard (also created by Erwin Mulder from VORtech). What is important is that IKOB has a different philosophy than many other models that are used, a philosophy that is not immediately reflected in the code, but which is important for the way you ultimately set it up.”
The open-source ambition
The ambition of Hans Voerknecht and CROW is to make the software available as open source so that others can continue to build on it. A lot of research is being done on accessibility, both in the Netherlands and abroad. By making the software open source, others can add to it.
Hans Voerknecht is very explicit in his wish for open source: “I really want other parties to be able to help build it. In the development so far, the company Dat Mobility also made an important contribution because they saw its importance for their own consulting. And I also work with students from Delft University of Technology, and they also like it when they can share their contributions with other researchers. So, I already have a small open-source community.”
However, making software open source is something you have to consider carefully, according to Mark Roest of VORtech: “Your code quality must be really good, also in terms of documentation, so that others can find their way in the code. You set the standard for contributions from third parties: if your own software is neatly in order, you can ask others to make their contributions neat as well.”
“You also have to be committed to support your community and manage third-party contributions,” says Mark. “This means that you organize something for having reviews done on code provided by others. And to have it integrated into the main version if the community thinks it’s a useful addition. In short: releasing something as open source involves much more than simply putting it on Github. At least if you are serious about it. Fortunately, it seems that CROW is aware of this and is willing to go there.”
Hans Voerknecht adds: “It is very impressive how VORtech has converted my amateur work into professional code. Even more so because I had written very few comments. My ideals are being realized: that everyone can now use IKOB, but also that others can work on improving things and adding other developments.”
Creating together
Ultimately, the entire development of the IKOB software is a good example of creating something great together. None of the parties involved could have done this alone. Hans Voerknecht: “It is incredible what has been achieved in those few years and I am very grateful for all the support I have had. Together we have created something great, and I am confident that together we will go much further.”