4 Big Cities Launch Shared Data Platform

The Twitterverse was abuzz Wednesday, Aug. 1, about a new layer of data from local governments being added to the federal government’s open data portal, Data.gov. Cities.data.gov now features data sets from four of America’s largest cities — Chicago, Seattle, New York and San Francisco.

While the site specifies that local government data sets aren’t subject to federal data policies, the idea is that comparative data from different levels of government can be useful in informing the work of software developers. Civic hackathons and other organized efforts are using open data from government agencies to drive tech-based improvements that are helping improve the quality of life in local communities.

Cities.data.gov is the first major endeavor of the G7 (Group of 7), big city CIOs who are informally collaborating on issues of mutual concern. Their shared interest and leadership in open data propelled this concept of a multi-jurisdictional clearinghouse of public data sets to the top of the group’s priority list.

By Noelle Knell

Full Story: http://www.govtech.com/e-government/4-Big-Cities-Launch-Shared-Data-Platform.html