Open data could be a powerful tool for understanding and managing drought conditions in California, and the state is preparing to release an initial 20 datasets with plans for more.
"An open data movement appears to be taking hold within state government programs that manage water data," according to an article by Matt Williams.
The California State Water Resources Control Board and CalEPA are hosting a series of events to help kickstart a new era of data sharing. Last week, it hosted a "data fair," next month it will be a Data Innovation Challenge. According to Williams, the Data Innovation Challenge "will invite the public to create data visualizations from a dozen water-related data sets soon to be available on the state's GreenGov open data portal."
The article includes more details about the steps the State Water Resources Board is taking to "wrangle" the many data sets it can potentially release to the public. One example: "a trove of California water rights data available only on Microfiche will be digitized."
FULL STORY: State Water Board Details Open Data Plans
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