City Launches Survey to Better Understand the Value of Open Data for Philadelphia Residents
PHILADELPHIA — The City of Philadelphia today launched the 2020 PHL Open Data survey to gather feedback from Philadelphia residents about the City’s open data efforts.
The Office of Innovation & Technology (OIT) contributes more than 245 datasets on OpenDataPhilly.org, a portal developed by Azavea, a local geospatial software company. The portal offers free, easy access to data information from more than 50 organizations, including the City.
City departments collaborate with OIT to release data publicly in order to create a better, more transparent government and provide useful knowledge to individuals. The survey is intended to help OIT gather how the City’s open data is used, what data should be released, and any challenges that individuals face while accessing the data.
“We have always recognized the importance of geographic information systems (GIS) and data sharing—both are necessary for informing key decisions,” said Chief Information Officer Mark Wheeler. “As we continue to grow our open data practices, we want to consider the needs of our users—what’s successful, difficult, or lacking when it comes to data sharing in Philadelphia. The goal of this survey is to help us continue prioritizing open data and making it as meaningful as possible for city residents.”
OIT will use survey results to identify potential datasets that have not been considered for release, and to better track open data’s impact in the city. After the survey closes, our data team within OIT will evaluate the effect of data-sharing, highlight projects that have benefitted from open data, review dataset suggestions, and use the results to improve the overall effort. When considering suggestions made by participants about which datasets should be released, the team will explore whether the data exists in City government and whether it is able to be shared with the public.
“We’re thrilled to release this survey,” said Open Data Program Manager Kistine Carolan. “We’re looking forward to hearing the creative and important ways residents put our data to use to help Philadelphia flourish. We’re also eager to hear new ideas about how we might refine our services so that we can continue to expand our open data work in the best ways possible.”
The 2020 PHL Open Data Survey closes on March 6, 2020. The survey can be accessed at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PHLopendata. OIT encourages individuals who take the survey to help spread the word by sharing the link with others who may have feedback.
About OpenDataPhilly
OpenDataPhilly.org provides access to more than 350 data sets and applications connected to the Philadelphia region. The portal includes both city and non-city data information. Residents can access data sets through keyword and category searches.
More information about City datasets can be found on OpenDataPhilly.org.