From the homepage:
a comprehensive list of open data catalogs curated by experts from around the world.
Cited in Simon Roger’s post: Competition: visualise open government data and win $2,000.
As of today, 288 registered data catalogs.
The reservation I have about “open” government data is that when it is “open,” it’s not terribly useful.
I am sure there is useful “open” government data but let me give you an example of non-useful “open” government data.
Consider San Francisco, CA and cases of police misconduct against it citizens.
A really interesting data visualization would be to plot those incidents against the neighborhoods of San Francisco. Where the neighborhoods are colored by economic status.
The maps of San Francisco are available at DataSF, specifically, Planning Neighborhoods.
What about the police data?
I found summaries like: OCC Caseload/Disposition Summary – 1993-2009
Which listed:
- Opened
- Closed
- Pending
- Sustained
Not exactly what is needed for neighborhood by neighborhood mapping.
Note: No police misconduct since 2009 according to these data sets. (I find that rather hard to credit.)
How would you vote on this data set from San Francisco?
Open, Opaque, Semi-Transparent?