Big data collection expands public service efficiency

As part of its efforts to become a critical hub for the development of big data in China, Guiyang has been integrating and applying the technology into every aspect of day-to-day living including public administrative services, healthcare and poverty alleviation.

The capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province has been pushing hard in its development of big data technologies in recent years as part of its effort to become China's "digital valley".

Behind this push is Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, which aims to apply big data across the board to all public services to make them more smart and efficient, and to contribute to improving the livelihoods of local residents.

The committee's main focus for the technology has been using it to carry out targeted poverty alleviation, helping those who might have difficulty visiting a doctor in person and speeding up government administrative services, Sun Zhigang, secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, said at the symposium on surveying the big data enterprises in April.

The joint venture Zhu Minsheng service platform was established by the Guiyang government and Digital China Holdings in February 2017. Its role is to put more government services, archives and administrative processes online to provide greater convenience to residents who need to make enquiries or process applications or registrations for things such as business certificates, taxation or legal matters.

The one-stop platform also provides more than 170 public services covering medical services and education, and is integrated across 16 government departments and 21 enterprises, and can be accessed via the official website, mobile app or through social media platform WeChat.

The interactive Zhu Minsheng platform not only processes a vast amount of services, but also logs user information, feedback and experiences so that the data can be used to improve the systems' effectiveness over time.

Baiyun district in Guiyang has established an online health database and archives for more than 189,000 residents. So far, it has collected 23 million diagnostic and therapeutic records from 630,000 hospital visits, and is enabling the district to provide medical services faster and with greater efficiency.

The database is especially useful for residents who live in the district's rural areas and remote villages, and for whom travelling all the way to the closest hospital is a major obstacle. Now that a vast amount of medical services and diagnoses can be made online or by telephone, it has provided greater convenience to those living far away from more central areas of the city, according to the government.

As a result of its efforts, the government in Guiyang has collected large amounts of data focused on poverty alleviation, civil affairs, health planning, statistics and land resources and used it to target people in the lowest income areas and help improve their lives. So far it has collected more than 6.9 million data entries in order to form and understand the full picture of poverty in the area.

Big data is also being used to promote a more balanced development of regional education and to improve the transportation network across the whole city.

Liu Jun, a public servant in Guiyang, said that in the past two years, the government has provided many free lectures to explain and popularize big data, and that is has been covered extensively in the local news.

"Almost all people working in the Guiyang public sector are familiar with the importance and the contribution of big data," Liu said.

hanlu@chinadaily.com.cn