Americans have inherited a vast and spectacular landscape. Through the efforts of citizens and governments throughout the 20th century, today Americans are the equal-owners of some 785 million acres of public land. These public lands and trails help us understand the world around us — including our environment, our communities, and ourselves. Across the country,Read… Read more »
Open data is no longer just a fad. We’re now living in a world that demands government data be open to the public. So how can agencies cope? Last year the Sunlight Foundation came out with their Open Data Policy guidelines. The goal of the guidelines was simple: get government started on the path toRead… Read more »
Have you ever wondered how many traffic tickets New York hands out every year? Or how many health outbreaks affect the Empire State? Now, with Open NY, the state’s transparency and openness initiative, you can. Governor Andrew Cuomo initiated Open NY in 2013 to create “unprecedented transparency across all levels of government.” Now, about twoRead… Read more »
I wanted to share the article that I wrote for the current issue of the Business of Government Magazine. You should really check out the entire issue! And of course, I’d love to read your thoughts on this article in the comments section. Joel Gurin recently released a book enthusiastically titled Open Data Now. Gurin,Read… Read more »
Over the past four years, we have seen an incredible shift in government data: more is open source and more information is being measured—especially in urban environments. Cities are developing unique data sets that include Urban Analytics where real-time information about traffic and pollution is measured by a variety of tools. This data is expandingRead… Read more »
Socrata has released an interesting benchmark study on open government data, which looks at the state of open data from the perspectives of citizens, developers and government. It is interesting to compare which data government stakeholders consider important to publish, compared to what citizens feel is important. Looking at Very Important from the tables (below)Read… Read more »
This is the second installment in a two-part series covering GovLoop and Esri’s virtual training event on open data and GIS. The first installment highlights a number of success stories at the state and federal levels. “I see the role of GIS as being able to make sense of [health] data. A lot of theRead… Read more »
The Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) in conjunction with the Victorian Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI), have launched a data competition to identify approaches using Victorian government open data to improve awareness and literacy for social and safety issues. The competition is open for registration, with entries closing 28 February and winnersRead… Read more »
If you ask 20 people to define open government, you will get 20 different responses. The lack of uniformed definitions makes implementing open government services very difficult. It would be like asking a pastry chef to bake a cherry pie and then providing 20 different recipes. The chef would have no idea which pie youRead… Read more »
Going to college is an exciting, terrifying and downright confusing time for students and parents alike. Choosing the right college is a difficult choice. Paying for that college is tricky and figuring out student aid is almost impossible. That is why the White House Innovation fellows were tasked with opening up Education Department data toRead… Read more »