Having just returned from the excellent Talk About Local 'unconference' I have been giving some thought to the two main themes that continually cropped up during the various conversations I had throughout the day:

• What can independent hyperlocals do to help each other?
• How can non-developers make use of data that is published in raw formats?

I have also recently blogged about my idea of a Common Hyperlocal Data Model and the success I have had in obtaining and processing Hyperlocal Car Park Data.

So to get the ball rolling I thought I would offer to share my work with car park data and attempt to make it available to non-technical users.

Here's the idea: If other hyperlocals can obtain Datex2 car park data from their own local authorities - I will attempt to process if for them and make it available as a JavaScript 'widget' that can be simply cut and pasted into their own websites / blogs etc.

Initially I would be happy to try this as a 'proof of concept' using my own resources. Obviously once the overhead started affecting the performance of my own sites I would not be able to continue to meet the demand, but then perhaps we could consider setting up a jointly owned server with contributions coming from those that use it.

Anyway this is just an idea to 'kick things off'. Hopefully other independent hyperlocals have some thoughts of their own...