Remember back when the City of Portland opened up its data to developers? Sure you do. But you know what? All the accessible data in the world isn’t of much use unless someone is doing something with it. And that’s why the City is interested in getting people to come up with ideas for using the data—to improve the city and our way of life.
Enter CivicApps. A contest sponsored by the City of Portland designed to help stimulate and motivate the development community to mix and match all the awesome datasets—more than 100 different types—available from the City.
CivicApps.org is a groundbreaking “first” in its attempts to facilitate civic engagement by relating ideas, apps, and datasets into an ongoing conversation between government and the community. In fact, other governments in the U.S. and Canada have taken notice and are inquiring about adopting this same Drupal framework for their open initiatives. The gist of the effort is for government to build and maintain a data platform and push innovation to the citizens to solve and share solutions to some of their most pressing issues/problems.
The contest (Ideas Challenge and Apps Challenge) is an annual event designed to reinvigorate this ongoing conversation or discussion between regional government and the community. Governments need to know what citizens care about, and what datasets they need to provide for citizens to develop interesting solutions. Citizens need to share their energy, insights, ideas, and ultimately their code. This can only happen through active participation on the site in the form of submissions, comments, and voting for submissions.
Now is the time for ideas. Ideas that provide new ways of looking at the data. Mashups that reveal new things about Portland. Applications that make use of the massive repository of data in new and interesting ways.
What sort of data, you ask? Well as it turns out, there are about 101 datasets at your disposal. And here they are A-Z.
- 911 Dispatch Incidents (KML)
- 911 Dispatch Incidents (geoRSS)
- 9-1-1 Joint Tracking Incident System
- Address Points (region)
- Address Points
- Aerial Photographs (2005)
- Before and After School Care Programs
- Bicycle Network
- Bicycle Parking
- Bridges
- Building Permits
- Business Association Boundaries
- Business Licenses
- Capital Improvement Projects
- City Boundaries
- City Boundaries (region)
- City Halls (region)
- Corners
- County Boundaries
- County Boundaries (region)
- Crime Incidents
- CrimeStats
- Curb Ramps
- Curbs
- Development Opportunity Areas
- Elevation Map
- Enterprise and E-Commerce Zones
- Fire Stations (region)
- Freight Districts
- Freight Facilities
- Garbage Hauler Boundaries
- Ground Slope
- Groundwater Maps
- Guardrails
- Heritage Trees
- Hillshade (region)
- Home Buyer Opportunity Areas
- Hospitals (region)
- ITS Cameras (Intelligent Transportation System)
- ITS Signs (Intelligent Transportation System)
- Leaf Pickup
- Libraries (region)
- Light Rail
- Light Rail Stops
- Liquor License Applications
- Local Improvement Districts
- Metro Council Districts
- Neighborhood Associations
- Neighborhood Associations (region)
- Parking Meters
- Parks – City of Portland
- Parks Desired Future Conditions
- Parks Easements
- Parks (region)
- Parks Taxlots
- Parks Trails
- Parks Vegetation Survey
- Pavement (maintained, not maintained)
- Pavement Moratorium Streets
- Pedestrian Districts
- Portland City Council Agenda
- Portland Streetcar Routes & Arrivals
- School Report Card and AYP Data
- Schools (region)
- Sidewalks
- Signage & Lighting Improvement Program
- Snow & Ice Routes
- Streets (region)
- Street Centerlines
- Streets – Jobs (permit jobs – line)
- Streets – Jobs (permit jobs – points)
- Streets – Jobs (permit jobs – polygon)
- Streets – Jobs (contract jobs – points)
- Streets – Jobs (contract jobs – line)
- Streets – Local Improvement District
- Street Sweeping Routes
- Storefront Improvement Areas
- Traffic Calming Devices
- Traffic Signals
- Transit District (poly)
- Transit Stations
- Transportation System Plan Classifications
- Transportation System Plan District Boundaries
- Transportation System Plan Intermodal Facilities
- TriMet Bus System (routes)
- TriMet Bus System (stops)
- TriMet – Complete Schedule
- TriMet – Current Detours
- TriMet Park and Ride Lots
- TriMet – Trip Planner
- TriMet – Real Time Arrival Predictions
- TriMet – Route Configuration
- TriMet Transit Centers
- Urban Renewal Areas
- Vegetation
- Watershed / Sub Watershed Info
- Wellhead Protection Area
- Zip Codes
- Zip Codes (region)
- Zoning (region)
- Zoning
Oh. I see that light in your eyes. You’ve got an inkling of something to do with this data, don’t you? I knew I could count on you. And you know what else? It’s a really really good idea. No, I’m not just saying that. It is. Brilliant even.
So why not submit the idea to CivicApps? I mean, you don’t even have to build it. You just have to conceive it. What could be easier? Go. Scoot. Go submit it.
And hurry! There’s no telling when this thing might close. And your idea really deserves a shot. So go.
For more information, visit CivicApps or follow @CivicApps on Twitter.
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Gee, I’d love to poke around over at CivicApps.org, but the damn site won’t let you look around very much without going one helluva authentication mechanism.
I authenticated via Facebook. Now, can I look around? Noooo… gotta give ’em an email.
Gave ’em an email. Now, can I look around? Nooo… gotta authenticate that email.
OK, authenticated the email. Now, can I look around? Nooo… gotta make up a password. (What was the point of authenticating via Facebook?!)
OK, gave ’em one of my usual passwords. What? Not acceptable? Oh, this is one of those “gotta include caps, lowercase, numbers, letters, and punctuation” passwords. What are we protecting here? Nuclear secrets?
For cryin’ out loud, all I wanted to see was the “Add Your Own Idea” page. I didn’t even want to submit an idea. I just wanted to see what the form looked like.
Sigh. For a project predicated on open government, transparency, and participation, they sure are making it hard to participate and figure out what’s going on.
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I created an OLCC api a few weeks ago if anyone’s interested:
http://www.tristanwaddington.com/olcc/
Would love to see more datasets available on CivicApps, seems like it’s kind of limited right now.