Celebrate Open Data Day 2022

Open Data Day, taking place on Saturday, March 5, 2022, is an annual opportunity to celebrate and share the myriad uses of open data in government, business, and society.

The benefits of open data in the government space are many: providing the public with transparency into how government runs; engaging communities with self-service access to public information; and democratizing information for decision-making.

Tyler Technologies’ Data & Insights solutions support open data champions across the country. These state, local, and federal leaders are transforming data into an asset for financial transparency, performance improvement, public health and safety, and more.

One of the goals of Open Data Day is to encourage the adoption of open data policies in government. In that spirit, we are honored to highlight the inspiring work of the people and agencies who are bringing open data policies to life.

“The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) releases timely public health data so people can use it for situational awareness and myriad public health decisions. Releasing data on pandemic events like COVID-19 and routine public health functions is important for transparency, workforce development, and data hygiene.”

— Brian Lee, Senior Advisor, Informatics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

“The Connecticut Open Data Portal provides access to data from state agencies to increase government transparency, drive efficiencies, and spark innovation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, agencies have published data on public health metrics, school learning models and attendance, and the economic recovery. ”

— Pauline Zaldonis, Open Data Coordinator, Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

“Delaware has an open data portal used by state agencies, residents, and stakeholders. It provides a variety of agency-supported datasets.”

— Jen Koester, Director, Enterprise Data, State of Delaware (DTI)

“Montgomery County, Maryland has an ongoing partnership with our local community college (Montgomery College) data science program. They use county datasets for their senior capstone class and we provide guidance as needed and host them for a semester presentation with county data owners and management. This gives students great work experience and helps us gain insight on how our community is using county data.”

— Victoria Lewis, Data Services Manager, Montgomery County Government

Join the Community

Tyler offers Community of Practice groups that provide government data leaders with opportunities to connect with your peers, share best practices, and be part of the conversation.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out the stories behind open data projects powered by Tyler’s Data & Insights solutions:

• Iowa leveraged open data to create a simple way to show the public how much CARES Act funding the state had been awarded, where the dollars were allocated, and how those funds were expended.
• Buffalo provided a public hub for their coronavirus response resources and leveraged open data from Johns Hopkins and the CDC to inform the city’s COVID-19 strategy.
• Memphis embraced open data to give the public 24/7 access to centralized data around performance management, public safety, 311 calls, civic assets, and capital projects.
• Connecticut’s open data portal, which serves as a unified data platform for the state’s agencies, helped guide local decision-making during the pandemic.
• Chicago combined digital health inspections with open data to view and analyze inspection-related data while simultaneously giving the same power to residents.
• Massachusetts’ financial transparency platform opened up payroll and spending data, created an easier path to statewide costs savings, and empowered citizens to keep officials accountable.
• San Mateo County, California used open data in support of efforts to address access to affordable housing and food.
• Nassau County, New York treated data as a strategic asset that could improve resource allocation, increase operational efficiencies, and drive economic development.
• Pierce County, Washington used its open data platform and internal data-sharing to quickly manage, deploy, and track $158 million in CARES Act funding.
• Texas established a data-sharing ecosystem, which is not just open data, but all types of data, involving agencies, cities, and counties.
• Maryland overhauled the state’s open data and financial transparency portals to provide a user-friendly ability to drill-down into agency spending data within a few clicks to see where tax dollars are going.
• New Jersey’s open data childcare portal gave parents and guardians an easy way to research childcare facilities, find providers in their area, check a facility’s capacity, and review any violations found in facility’s state inspection.
• St. Petersburg, Florida’s open data functionality enables residents to zoom in on individual neighborhoods to see which code compliance cases are most prevalent as well as how those cases are started, by citizen complaint or department initiation.
• The Netherlands’ Dutch Transit Authority, Dienst Wegverkeer (RDW), launched a data-sharing portal that powers some of the most interesting apps in Europe and drives government innovation in a cost-effective, secure way.
• The L.A. City Controller launched “Inside L.A. City Finances” in four weeks during the pandemic, giving residents of Los Angeles access to a real-time, trustworthy, and open view of the city’s finances.
• Stockton, California’s open data portal has empowered staff to use data for performance improvement and to highlight connections between city services and important community issues around equity.
• Pinellas County, Florida created a comprehensive, internal self-service open data dashboard for performance reporting, enabling county leaders to monitor progress toward strategic performance initiatives with the use of transparent, engaging data.
• The Dallas Police Department launched an open data initiative to build public trust by sharing officer-involved shooting data online, resulting in a sharp decline in calls for information from media outlets and community members.
• The Pittsburgh Controller turned to open data to provide an easy-to-use interface for public users to look at the city’s budget, track it over time, and drill down to the line-item level.