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US City Open Data Census |

Dataset Explainers

A Guide for Users of the US City Open Data Census

Dataset Explainers

Notes added:

Asset Disclosure: Asset disclosure data collection is mandated by state and local ethics commissions, boards, and code to make the financial background of top-level government officials transparent to the public. Open financial disclosure data is fundamental to hold government officials accountable and spot conflicts of interest. Asset disclosure data should include the following elements: name of top-level government officials, title, investment information, prior and current business relationships, real estate interests, and personal income (including gifts and travel or speaking payments).

Budget: Open budget data is important to share to communicate how tax dollars are intended to be spent and to compare against policy plans and actual spending. For purposes of this Census, budget data should include the planned budget by unit of appropriation with a programmatic description of each unit of appropriation.

Business Listings: A directory of all licensed businesses in the municipal area, including key information such as name, address, contact information, and business type.

Campaign Finance Contributions: Campaign finance disclosure is an essential public accountability mechanism. Providing access to open campaign finance data about the flow of money in politics empowers oversight and accountability in the government decision-making process. Campaign finance contribution data, for US City Open Data Census purposes, should be a structured dataset that details the amount contributed to each candidate and by whom.

Code Enforcement Violations: Building code inspection data surfacing reports on particular properties from code enforcement officials.

Construction Permits: Locations of issued construction permits.

Crime: Open crime data helps communities make informed judgements about public safety, as well as providing transparency into how local police power is being exercised. For US City Open Data Census purposes, crime report data should include at a minimum the following elements: date, time, location, incident type, and narrative information—best would be exact date, location, and type of crime, but per day per street or postal/zip code would be acceptable.

Lobbyist Activity: Lobbying might evoke images of power brokers in Washington, DC, but lobbyists are also influential at the local level. A complete suite of lobbying data should include information about registration and activity-- who is paying lobbyists and, ideally, how much and where money is spent.

Parcels: Parcel data is data on the geographic boundaries of property. Parcels are the most specific units of geodata that governments maintain. The data is mainly used by the County Assessor's office to assess property taxes, yet is also used to keep track of addresses, other type of taxes, and zoning information. Because of their granularity, parcel data can be used for very detailed maps, visualizations, and all kinds of applications. For example, Code for America has used parcel data for work on its House Facts data standard and to find earthquake-prone buildings in Oakland.

Procurement Contracts: The full text of municipal contracts with vendors, including the amount, awardee (name, address), and date awarded. The data should include if there have been changes to a contract, with information on the final payments as well as the initial contract award amount. Contracts should also be categorized according to the type of purchase and the purchasing department or agency.

Property Assessment: Data about assessed property values.

Property Deeds: The recording of property sales, mortgages, and foreclosures.

Public Buildings: Locations of city-owned buildings.

Restaurant Inspections: Outcomes of food safety inspections of restaurants and other similar providers of food to the public.

Service Requests (311): Non-emergency service requests (which some cities facilitate by dialing 3-1-1), covering issues such as graffiti, broken traffic lights, noise complaints, parking law enforcement, and potholes. Open service request data provides transparency about what types of requests are being requested and where, as well as how quickly requests are resolved. For Census purposes, service request data should at a minimum include: request type, responsible city department, location, and when the service was requested and fulfilled.

Spending: Open spending data informs citizens, journalists, and government officials alike as to just how public funds are being spent. Spending data should include a complete list of city expenditures at a detailed transactional level (including tax breaks, loans, contracts, grants, and operational spending). In other words, records should be fairly granular, covering, for instance, month to month expenditures on specific items costing in the thousands rather than the millions. This data category refers to detailed ongoing data on actual expenditures; a database of contracts awarded is not considered sufficient.

Transit: Open transit data provides transparency and legibility to when and where public transit is running. Timetables (schedules), locations of stops, and real-time location information of all municipally run or commissioned transit services (buses, subway, rail, tram, etc.) should be easily and openly accessible.

Web Analytics: Web analytics are one of the most useful datasets for understanding direct interaction between local governments and citizens. Data collected using programs like Google Analytics, KISSMetrics, or other similar programs can allow cities to make better decisions about web development priorities based on citizen needs. In the hands of civic hackers, web analytics can also be used to advocate for better accessibility for all residents and to demonstrate challenges that both the city and the civic hacking community should address. As an example, Code for America created a real-time analytics viewer (in alpha) based on GDS’s analytics dashboard. While it requires access to real-time data, which many cities do not yet release, it provides powerful information about actual usage for city staff who publish on the web.

Zoning (GIS): Zoning impacts the most physical elements of our communities and daily lives — from the location of your local supermarket (and what you can purchase there) to the size and height of your home. Having access to the mapped zone (GIS) shapefiles of designated permitted land use where you live can help empower a better understanding of the forces shaping your community.

Dataset Explainers updated July 5, 2016.