A 'HACKATHON' saw computer wizards use open source data to uncover links between the data during a special event in Shinfield Park.

Reading Buses managers Tony Pettitt and John Bickerton were amongst 60 visitors working through the night to try and understand the link between data sets and the weather.

The pair launched their own open data plans to the other attendees.

One of the links they found was a correlation between pollution from congestion and accidents.

"Our open data launch allows people to pull data from our servers and analyse it,” said Tony Pettitt, chief finance and information officer.

"They can link it with other information to build apps and put our information on the map - literally.

"Our app allows customers to plan journeys, see live positions of all our buses and pay for journeys too.

"This initiative allows access to that same data - and more - to developers and budding app coders."

Florian Rathgeber organised the Open Data Hack.

"The true benefit of open weather and climate data comes through combining them with other open data sources," he said.