Last month, the City of Minneapolis launched its open data
portal, a website that provides online access to municipally collected
information.
People who visit the
site (opendate.minneapolismn.gov) can see fire and police incidents, 311 calls
and crime statistics. Data also show property rental locations and open liquor
licenses. Air quality, digital inclusion and neighborhood revitalization are additional
areas covered on the site.
Rollout of the website
is the result of an August vote in which the City Council made Minneapolis the
16th city in the U.S. to pass an open data policy. The intention: Make city
information easily accessible for residents to increase transparency and
improve quality of life.
Before the portal,
residents and other people who wanted city data were required to complete a
Freedom of Information Act request. Now with constant access to data, people
can learn more about where they live by just going online.
While an innovation for Minneapolis, the open data portal provides information on only a fraction of the
City’s functions and services. The data sets in the initial release were
chosen based on accessibility and popular information requests.
The City plans to
continually add data sets over the coming months and years. People who are
interested in being updated when new information is available can subscribe to
a RSS feed.
The capacity of city
departments to prepare information for the portal will figure heavily in
timelines. Data must be formatted properly for the site, a process that can be
time consuming and stretch department resources.
Once information is
available at the website, tech-savvy individuals can use data to produce
consumer-focused resources without worrying about copyright or other
restrictions. For instance, City data provided in chart form might be rendered
in an interactive map meant to help residents navigate the city.
The open data movement
has grown with technological innovation. The Internet makes it easier than ever
to access information, and open data advocates believe data that is public
should be available to everyone.
Data.gov, which went
online in 2009, was among the first government websites dedicated to providing
public information. Today, site visitors can get federal- and local level data
on agriculture, business, education, health, energy, climate, manufacturing,
finance, public safety and other areas.
Minneapolis has now
joined the 38 states and 46 cities and counties that have open data portals of
their own. City officials acknowledge that the current site is only a first
step and abundant opportunity exists to make the portal more useful to
residents.
Open Twin Cities is
among the organizations that have helped to drive the conversation around
making City information public. The nonprofit advocacy group’s mission is to
foster “inclusive community and civic collaboration” and to champion “open
government and civic technology for civic impact.”
Among the events Open
Twin Cities hosts are “hackdays,” in which participants identify technology
solutions to community challenges. People interested in how open data
initiatives are of benefit to the public good can visit opentwincities.org.