“York Open Data” Launched
Open Data Press Release
City of York Council has launched a new website featuring local data, giving residents and businesses free access to a wealth of information about their city, which will be used to build new solutions to all kinds of challenges such as those around sustainability, transport, energy or community engagement.
York Open Data (www.yorkopendata.org) is a place for businesses and organisations to publicly share their data so that anybody can connect to hundred’s of up-to-date, searchable data sets and use them to make a difference in their local area.
The site is launching with around 250 initial datasets which cover a diverse range of topics such as council and city performance, community assets and individual business sectors in York. Over the next few months, new datasets will be published regularly from sectors and individual organisations across the city, building a rich picture of the city with information direct from the public, private and third sector’s organisations based here.
A series of York Open Data events will be held over the spring and summer to bring together public, private and third sector organisations with the open data community and enthusiasts to spark new projects, create new products and improve services and the community.
The site is funded by an Innovate UK and NESTA grant and is ran by the council. It was created as part of the council’s continued commitment to being accountable, efficient and effective through publicly sharing as much of the information it has access to as possible.
Launching the site at the LARIA (Local Area Research and Intelligence Association) Annual Conference in York today, Kersten England, Chief Executive of the council, said:
“The introduction of an Open Data Platform for the city means that the information held on the city by the city can be used more effectively by individuals and companies when they’re trying to meet the needs of their customers and develop innovative solutions for some of the city’s challenges.
“We’re committed to sharing as much of the data we have access to, as well as encouraging our public, private and third sector partners to share their information so that decisions taken which affect this city’s future can be based on the maximum amount of evidence available at any one time”.
Ian Floyd, Director of Customer, Business and Support Services responsible for Audit and Governance said:
“York Open Data gives the council further ability to release information in a structured fashion to help meet the various enquires and requests that are received by the council about the data that it holds, as well as be a portal to meet the councils responsibilities under the transparency code.”
Anybody wishing to get involved in York Open Data is encouraged to make contact and sign-up to future events at www.yorkopendata.org
The development of York Open Data has been completed in collaboration with Media Mill partners, which includes Leeds City Council, in order to create a sustainable site able to deliver high-quality information on York.
