Palo Alto Doubles Down on Open Data

Junar’s platform will “power one of the most pioneering Open Data community sites in the country,” according to a statement released by City of Palo Alto Chief Information Officer Jonathan Reichental, Ph.D. The cloud-based service will increase public access to data generated by the city’s various service areas and departments, and is part of the City’s effort to be at the forefront of public sector technology and innovation.

The new site, at http://data.cityofpaloalto.org/, launches August 1, 2012. For a city sandwiched between the best tech and research firms in the world, the new site, says Reichental, helps build a “leading digital city.”

Residents of Palo Alto will now be able to have a more engaging experience with local government and a better visibility of the City’s inner workings.

"We are delighted to work with a local, innovative Silicon Valley start-up," said Reichental. "Rather than just publishing lists of datasets, the cloud-based Junar platform has enhancement and visualization capabilities that make the data useful even before it is downloaded or consumed by a software application."

The data backbone provided by Junar will allow developers to build a whole new generation of apps. The City aims to sponsor this through challenges and hackathons. Any non-City employees can help, but none of the apps will incur any cost to the City, according to Reichental.

Starting in August, datasets will be available from the 2010 census, pavement condition ratings, city tree locations, park locations, bike paths and hiking trails, creek water levels, rainfall tide, and utility data.

"The City of Palo Alto joins a group of forward-thinking organizations that are using Open Data as a foundation for more efficient delivery of services, information, and enabling innovation,” said Diego May, CEO and co-founder of Junar. "By opening data with the Junar Platform, the City of Palo Alto is exposing and sharing valuable data assets and is also empowering citizens to use and create new applications and services."

Palo Alto City Manager James Keene was himself keen on the new data platform.

 “We're excited to bring the value of Open Data to our community,” said Keene. “It is a natural complement to our goal of becoming a leading digital city and a connected community. By making valuable datasets easily available to our residents, we’re further removing the barriers to a more inclusive and transparent local government here in Palo Alto.”