It is not perhaps surprising that the City of Palo Alto would be on the cutting edge of Gov 2.0. Their new Open Data Platform is a powerful new community site that will offer public access to data-sets at varying levels of detail. According to the City’s Press Release:
Through challenges and hackathons, non-City employees will be able to develop applications that enhance cost efficiencies and speed of execution of City services to the community, but do not incur costs to the City.
Over time, the City will make available more advance datasets; however, initial datasets include:
- 2010 census data for Palo Alto
- Pavement condition ratings
- City tree locations
- Park locations
- Bicycle paths and hiking trails
- Creek water level
- Rainfall tide
- Utility data
You can read more and explore the platform here.
