Open data tapped for economic development, law enforcement

State and local governments are finding different ways to leverage their open data.

The District of Columbia is opening up its databases with an eye to having the information commercialized by companies who can use it to fuel a business plan, the District’s CTO Archana Vemulapalli said at the VMware’s Public Sector Innovation Summit on April 26. “We want to set up government as an enabler,” she said.

The District’s agencies, she said, are looking to her office to find the best ways to make their “treasure trove” of data more widely available.

Some open data programs focus on the needs of residents. Amen Ra Mashariki, New York City’s chief analytics officer, is working on a data-driven program to help residents in rent-controlled apartments fight back against developers illegally trying to force them out of their buildings. By correlating information on building maintenance, sales and tenant complaints with other data, Mashariki’s office has been able to identify and prosecute some offending building owners.

Maine is just getting started with its open data efforts, state CIO Jim Smith said. States, with their larger overall populations and spread-out facilities, can have a harder time pushing out data-based services, he said. “Cities have a closer relationship with their citizens.”

Smith is looking for ways to open state data by talking with state lawmakers about the possibilities such services can offer. He said he’s also partnering with state universities to develop applications.

Smith, Vemulapalli and Mashariki agreed, however, that one of the highest hurdles they face is changing the culture of siloed agencies.

Yet for Mashariki, necessity is driving more openness. “Things move at light speed in New York,” he said, and almost every incident, like a recent crane collapse, requires data from a variety of city agencies for investigation and recourse.