Open Data

'I Quant NY' Brings Data Journalism to the People

Ben Wellington teaches a statistics course based on NYC Open Data at the Pratt Institute’s City & Regional Planning program, and is the founder of the quirky data blog "I Quant NY."

October 25, 2014 - Pacific Standard

Web App to Provide Quick Scale Comparison Data

Perth, Australia joins ESRI's Urban Observatory network, a web application used to make quick scale comparison data maps of participating cities.

June 20, 2014 - FutureGov

Comprehensive Crash Data for New York City Released Online

In a big victory for safe streets, New York City has released to the public an online database of crash data for the city. Previously, poor and incomplete data made creating safe streets "next to impossible."

May 8, 2014 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

What Does Citi Bike Data Reveal About New York City?

A website called I Quant NY has produced a string of posts examining recent ridership data released by Citi Bike. The visualizations and maps produced by the site make a good case for the value of open data.

April 9, 2014 - I Quant NY

NYC's Open Data Rollout Collides With Reluctant Departments

The NYPD's failure to produce usable traffic crash data, or agree to change their data gathering and reporting procedures, is just one example of the obstacles confronting implementation of the city's landmark open data law.

October 13, 2013 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Stumbling Blocks on the Road to the Urban Data Revolution

Data collection and analysis promise to make our cities better, and more efficient, places to live. Though many cities are expanding their digital integration, several obstacles remain to realizing the full potential of the urban data revolution.

May 10, 2013 - Governing

Help Select the Most Promising Applications of Open Data

886 projects have been entered in a $5 million competition organized by the Knight News Challenge to find the best ideas for making the places we live "more awesome through data and technology." The Atlantic Cities shares 12 of their favorites.

March 26, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

An App for Outsmarting Meter Maids

As applications proliferate that take advantage of open data, it's becoming clear that some may be counterproductive for a city's bottom line. Take SpotAgent, for example, the new tool in the "technological arms race of urban parking."

February 22, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

New Center Seeks to Take the Guesswork out of Planning

Researchers at the University of Chicago are tackling a problem that is confronting the globe's biggest cities: how to turn the reams of data being collected and opened to the public and turn it into actionable information for decision-makers.

December 27, 2012 - DNAinfo.com Chicago

Hubway Data Visualization

The Year's Best in Big Data

The "Best of" roll continues with Emily Badger's list of the most useful tools, maps and data visualizations to make use of municipal open data over the past year.

December 19, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Animating San Francisco's Turbulent Decade

A joint project by technology company Esri and the city of San Francisco shows the promising confluence of open data and innovative visualization techniques.

October 16, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Using Twitter as a City's Suggestion Box

Writer David Lepeska offers a great summary of innovative civic technologies and mobile apps being used across the country, and speculates about which city will be the first to use Twitter as a very public suggestion box.

October 6, 2012 - Next American City

Open Data Brings Power to the People

As the ways in which cities across the U.S. are utilizing the web continues to increase, open data is changing the way citizens interact with their government. Philadelphia is one city using information to level the power playing field.

August 24, 2012 - Next American City

City Hacking Goes Mainstream

Within the last six months, two forward thinking American cities have created new positions for Chief Innovation Officers, with a mission to connect city hall with a new generation of problem-solvers outside of it, reports Emily Badger.

March 19, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

New York City to Pass Landmark Open Data Law

Sarah Lai Stirland reports on the new bill, that was to be voted on by the City Council on Wednesday, which would codify many of the principles articulated by open government advocates in recent years.

March 1, 2012 - Tech President

Putting Alternative Fuel Stations on the Map

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy released an interactive map displaying thousands of alternative fuel stations around the nation.

August 5, 2011 - TheCityFix.com

Gov 2.0 Grows

Gov 2.0 is on the rise, and an increasing amount of cities and groups are getting behind efforts to improve the way cities function by better processing their data.

December 23, 2010 - Fast Company

Opening Government Easier Said Than Done

Federal government entities are supposed to be "opening" their data, publishing it online for any and all to see. While the goal is good, the reality of meeting the requirement is creating problems.

December 9, 2010 - Next American City

San Francisco Passes Country's First Open Data Requirement

A new law requiring city agencies and departments to make "reasonable efforts" to publish their data received unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors.

November 11, 2010 - Fast Company

Recovery Through Open Data in Detroit and New Orleans

In Detroit and New Orleans, open data proponents are pushing local government to share public data in ways that help citizens in these struggling cities to improve their communities.

September 9, 2010 - Next American City

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