Releasing government data has many benefits to municipalities. Not only will you increase public trust and civic participation, but internal operations also become more efficient. Transparency will create accountability among municipal departments. Departments will be coordinating information sharing, which will improve internal decision making and break down silos. By proactively providing such information, public information requests will likely decrease, thereby saving valuable staff resources. Giving lawmakers and researchers access to data can help inform policy making in order to improve quality of life decisions. 

Open government data is different than public information. While both can be used to provide important information to the public, open “raw” data allows the user to analyze and organize the data to see trends and preempt problems before they happen, which is good for government, and can help to improve quality of life for the entire community. Imagine a business administrator analyzing the amount of taxes paid by block and lot to see what type of properties are bringing in more revenue to the town for economic development purposes; or a planning department using bicycling data to determine where bike paths should be installed; or community stakeholders analyzing block and lot information to see which abandoned properties could be used for community gardens or pocket parks. Opening up data allows all of this, and more, to be possible. 

This action awards points to a town for developing a policy to inventory available data sets and release them to the public in machine readable format, through a centralized location online. Towns can also earn points for codifying the policy through an ordinance and engaging the public in an ongoing feedback process and collaborative partnership. 

Why is it important? 

Transparency within our government institutions and accountability from our elected representatives are important goals towards reaching a sustainable community. Opening government data increases public trust by providing evidence that confirms what leaders say is happening.

Opening government data goes beyond a municipality deciding what information is most useful to the public. It takes into account what information the public needs and provides it in formats that are easily digestible to the public such as reports, graphics, or other prepared documents. In almost every case, these standard formats cannot be read by computer software. Open government data can be freely accessed, reused and redistributed.

Why would a municipality find this useful? By sharing government data freely with the public, a town is inviting new ways to tell stories of the many good things that the town is doing. Governments do not need to do this alone. A mutually beneficial partnership can be developed between government, citizens, and business to create community-driven solutions that will enhance their residents’ experience, improve service delivery, and make government more efficient.

Making government data transparent also benefits government internally. Sharing data across departments can create efficiencies and save money. Creating a culture where staff look to open data from other departments can help quickly identify trends and project results, providing more informed decisions on issues related to sustainability, transportation, health care, and more. Newark placed trackers on snow plows, used a map to show real time data, and shared it with the public. Not only did this decrease complaints to the municipality from frustrated residents waiting for streets to be plowed, but the town was able to assess the efficiency of their drivers and routes.

The open government data movement is growing, and will eventually become the norm. Towns can stay relevant by proactively collecting, organizing and sharing data in a way that makes sense for the community and the government itself. See the Examples of Open Data in Use under the Resources section at the end of this action.