The Open Data Science Conference Chicago Meetup recently welcomed Tom Shchenk, Chief Data Officer of the city of Chicago, to speak about how his office works with open data, and how it is improving the lives of citizens. Of the initiatives developed to promote open data, the one called Initiative C stands out most clearly. It's goal is to leverage technology to make government more efficient, effective, and open.
One success of this initiative is the presence of bus data on Chicago's open data portal. The presence of this data represents a possible root for projects. In this instance, a platform was developed to determine traffic congestion using data from the G.P.S devices located on each city bus.
Although this information and much more is available on the city's open data website, it is even more convenient to access with API's. Thus there are packages available to provide this access point. Public contribution is encouraged by making these libraries open source.
The invitation to participate goes even further.
Analysis done by the city on issues such as water quality and food inspections are also publicly available. Since the data this analysis is built on is on the open data portal, interested individuals can pick apart the analysis from data exploration and munging to model building. Comments and criticism are welcome in the form of words or even a citizen's own model.
This is just overview of how the city of Chicago is working to make itself more data-driven to reap the benefits that come from this stance.
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