[CivicAccess-discuss] NY Times - Local Governments Offer Data to Software Tinkerers

[Tracey P. Lauriault]

*Local Governments Offer Data to Software Tinkerers *

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/claire_cain_miller/index.html?inline=nyt-per>

NYTimes
Published: December 6, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — A big pile of city crime reports is not all that useful. But
what if you could combine that data with information on bars, sidewalks and
subway stations to find the safest route home after a night out?
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/technology/internet/07cities.html?_r=1&ref=us#secondParagraph>
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Daniel Rosenbaum for The New York Times

Stamen Design put together the San Francisco Crimespotting site using
information from the city's police department.
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DC Bikes, which shows bike paths in the Washington area, and Stumble Safely,
which shows the safest way to get home from bars at night there, were both
developed using government data.

In Washington, a Web site called Stumble
Safely<http://outsideindc.com/stumblesafely/>makes that possible. It
is one example of the kind of creativity that cities
are hoping to mobilize by turning over big chunks of data to programmers and
the public.

Many local governments are figuring out how to use the Internet to make
government data more accessible. The goal is to spawn useful Web sites and
mobile applications — and perhaps even have people think differently about
their city and its government.

....

read rest here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/technology/internet/07cities.html?_r=1&ref=us


-- 
Tracey P. Lauriault
613-234-2805
https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Lauriault
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