Normally, I would keep my mouth shut about the Mayoral campaign’s talking points, but when they are so willfully un-researched, I have to point them out. Yesterday, Anthony Wiener’s campaign announced 61 additional ideas to keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class.
I’d like to point out one…
112 – Make 311 a ‘Big Data’ Treasure Trove“Our 311 city help hotline has fielded over 158 million calls in the past decade. The data about the types of calls and the locations from which they are made are closely- held secrets by the city. This information should be released in raw form. Obviously we would remove any personal information, but giving the public and city workers access to the data might yield effective mapping, trend-spotting, and innovative solutions.”
THESE ARE NOT SECRETS. Since March 7, 2012, the City has had one of the most transformative open data laws. Almost since its inception, NYC DoITT has been publishing 311 requests to the City’s Open Data portal. You can access near realtime calls via NYC 311 map (developed by DoITT), follow them on twitter, or even use an Open311 inquiry API to access NYC’s 311. Want to look at 311 data since 2010, visit < nyc.gov/data >.
If any candidate wants to attend any of our hacknights, we’d love to talk about what should be opened… Beyond PLUTO, there are many more datasets we would like to see.
