History of Open Data in Philadelphia

The following is a short history of Open Data in Philadelphia:

• 1998 - U-Penn Releases Neighborhood Information System (NIS) - The Cartographic Modeling Lab, a research lab at the University of Pennsylvania, releases parcel level data to the public via the Neighborhood Information System (NIS).  The U-Penn team negotiated data sharing agreements with each agency that maintained data related to real estate property - Board of Revision of Taxes, Water, Licenses and Inspections, Postal Service, Philadelphia Gas Works, Fire Department and others - and assembled the various data sets into a single, searchable web database.
• 9/19/2003 - Philadelphia Signs Open Data MOU to Release Data to the Public - The City of Philadelphia signs a memorandum of understanding with Penn State University to release its GIS data sets through the Pennsylvania state data clearinghouse.  Approximately 20 data sets are released and updated annually thereafter.
• 7/24/2004 - U-Penn Cartographic Modeling Lab Releases CrimeBase - Online application has geographically aggregated crime data for Part 1 and Part 2 crimes
• 7/28/2008 - Commissioner Ramsey releases Crime Data - Crime mapping application released that enables mapping and limited downloads of Part 1 crime data from 1/1/2007.
• Open Access Philly started
• SEPTA releases GTFS data
• 1/3/2011 - 2011 Code for America Fellowship
• 4/25/2011 - Open Data Philly launched - Catalog of regional data, apps and APIs launched by team outside municipal government - http://technical.ly/philly/2011/03/23/opendataphilly-org-city-data-catalog-to-launch-april-25-during-philly-tech-week/
• 6/1/2011 - SEPTA Releases Real-time Data APIs - http://technical.ly/philly/2011/06/01/transitview-septa-unveils-real-time-bus-and-trolley-app-also-sms-and-smartphone-schedules/
• 8/3/2011 - 8/28/2011 - Fix Philly Districts launched - Open source DistrictBuider software used to run public competition to crowdsource better City Council district boundaries
  • http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//centre-square/24576-voters-flock-to-chance-to-fix-citys-election-map
  • http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//centre-square/25988-fixphillydistricts-voters-offer-winning-visions-for-council-map
  • http://technical.ly/philly/2011/08/15/fixphillydistricts-com-local-redistricting-contest-kicks-off-with-cash-prizes/
• 9/1/2011 - 10/28/2011 - Open Data Race Held to Lobby for Data Releases - Community holds contest to prioritize data releases by City of Philadelphia that will support non-profit organizations in the region
• 1/2/2012 - 2012 Code for America Fellowship
• 4/26/2012 - Mayor Nutter signs Open Data executive order - http://technical.ly/philly/2012/04/27/10-takeaways-from-the-new-city-of-philadelphia-open-data-policy/
• 8/9/2012 - Chief Data Officer appointed - http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local//innovation/42657-meet-mark-headd-philadelphias-first-chief-data-officer
• Code for Philly Brigade started
• 1/23/2013 - City Budget Data Released by Philadelphia candidate for City Controller - http://technical.ly/philly/2013/01/23/city-of-philadelphia-budget-visualizatio/
• 10/30/2014 - Open Data Strategic Plan released by the City - http://technical.ly/philly/2014/10/30/open-data-strategic-plan-tim-wisniewski/

Related Resources

• Open Data Philly - Philadelphia's clearinghouse for open data
• Executive Order establishing municipal Open Data policy
• Open Data Roadmap - Timeline of planned released