With tighter budgets and fewer resources, local governments are turning to technology to stay connected to residents and improve their systems. According to the Digital Cities Survey published by Government Technology magazine, four major tech trends are visible across most of the participants, which range from cities with populations of 50,000 to more than a million.
1. Open data
Transparency is important for governments and thanks to technology, it’s easier to achieve than ever. Leading the pack of cities with easily accessible data records is New York City. The Big Apple started its open data system in 2012 and now has 1,300 data sets available for viewing. Chicago ranks second with over 600 data sets, while San Francisco scores the highest rating in U.S. Open Data Census for open data quality.
Open data isn’t limited to the country’s biggest cities, however, as mid-size Tacoma, Wash., offers 40 data sets and Ann Arbor, Mich,. has financial transparency data that is updated daily, according to Governing.
2. Stat programs and data analytics
These types of initiatives originated in the 1980s with the NYPD merging data with staff feedback, but have expanded to other cities. Louisville, Ky., now has Louiestat, which is used to spot weaknesses in performance and cut the city’s bill for unscheduled employee overtime.
Governing reports that data analytics are also a popular tool to gauge performance. In Denver, Phoenix and Jacksonville, Fla., local governments use them to sort through all their data sets in search of patterns that can be used for better decision-making.
3. Online citizen engagement
As social media becomes more prevalent in daily life, governments are getting on board to stay connected. Through social media sites and online surveys, local governments are using social media to engage their residents in local issues.
One such city is Avondale, Ariz. (population of 78,822), which connects a mobile app and an online forum for citizen use. Citizens can post ideas on the forum and then residents can vote yay or nay.
4. Geographic information systems
Although it’s been around for a long time, cities are updating the function of GIS to help make financial decisions that will, in turn, improve performance, public transit and public safety as well as organize social service and citizens engagement activities.
Augusta, Ga., recently won an award for its transit maps, while in Sugar Land, Texas, GIS is used for economic development and citizen engagement with 92 percent survey respondents citywide.
Based on all this, it seems that cities have embraced the tech craze.
MORE: Which 3 Cities are Fighting Poverty Through a Tech Cohort?
Tag: data analytics
How San Francisco Is Tapping Big Data to Measure Neighborhood Sustainability
What comes to mind when you think of San Francisco? If you’re like most, it’s the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatrez prison, and liberal social views.
But you should also think about San Francisco’s civic technology. The City by the Bay is often considered a trendsetter in this field — and now, it’s enlisting help from the Midwest to help engineer its latest investment in a digital government tool.
Partnering with the University of Chicago, San Francisco’s Citywide Planning Division is creating a neighborhood dashboard to measure each community’s sustainability by measuring statistics such as energy, water usage, materials management, health, local habitat, community investment and mobility, according to Government Technology.
The “Sustainable Systems Framework” will regularly update metrics on individual neighborhoods through department datasets, which will then give insight on future urban development and resource management, according to city planner Lisa Chen.
While a variety of components inspired the framework’s design, Chicago’s WindyGrid provided a template for San Fran’s system. WindyGrid is an open-sourced data hub that stores seven million rows of data in real-time across the city’s departments and is considered one of the largest municipal data ventures of its kind.
Matthew Gee, the U of Chicago’s project coordinator and a member of the team that developed WindyGrid, explains that San Francisco’s deployment of the technology could provide data-driven accountability for individual neighborhoods for the first time in its history.
“That kind of insight into how local programs, initiatives and investments have changed and improved the area around us hasn’t been possible in the past — or at least openly available — and that’s really exciting,” Gee said.
But building the technology is the easy part. Coordinating datasets and mapping out communities pose major challenges to the groundbreaking project. The university will help city officials comb through department data to extract the most meaningful stats to use in sustainable metrics, which entails even minute pieces like block parties or historic preservation.
While breaking down neighborhoods may seem like an easy task, mapping will take more into account than zip codes or geographical borders. Instead, the project team will separate neighborhoods by eco-districts as well as communities that share residential, commercial and industrial traits. These defined terms were first employed by Portland in 2010, and Chen contends the methodology is well-researched.
“Getting agencies to coordinate efforts even in a single neighborhood can be a real challenge,” Chen said, “and I think having performance metrics is one way to really engage agencies as well as the broader community.”
San Francisco will join more than 20 cities to begin exploring the idea of governing tactics by similar areas rather than one centralized plan for the whole city, The beta version is expected to roll out by the end of the first quarter in 2015, and residents will be able to check out a public version shortly after.
“We want this to be a demonstration project that shows cities the power of data and citizen-facing technologies that change the way cities grow,” Gee said.
MORE: How San Francisco Got Its Residents to Care About Sewers
Why Local Governments Are Becoming More Data-Driven
It’s no secret that data analytics and an emphasis on machine learning are easy ways to fast track efficiency when it comes to navigating the daunting processes of bureaucracy. That concept is gradually catching on, but in the wake of budget cuts and economic recovery, government officials in Indiana are understanding the important role data can play in saving costs.
Earlier this year Indiana Gov. Mike Pence used an executive order to create a Management and Performance Hub (MPH) to streamline and increase the use of data services across state agencies. In an effort to increase productivity and transparency, the MPH uses performance management tools and an analytic platform to identify to examine where agencies can improve and how to save money.
Supported by the governor’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT), MPH stands to serve as an example of agency coordination and cutting out some of the drawn-out, bureaucratic procedures that have long been in place. The state’s vast pool of data is now organized in a central place within the IOT, according to Paul Baltzell, chief information officer.
“We are seeing boosted productivity from standardization and cleaning of data, and also from new technology purchases,” said Sara Marshall, the MPH project director for OMB. “For example, a complex query that takes ten minutes on an SQL server takes less than one second on our new in-memory computing platform.”
The reorganization and clean-up of procedures also limits opportunity to corrupt data, Marshall adds. With few steps involved in a query, there’s less of a chance of error. That also adds to a better workflow.
The state agencies are also exploring more ways to implement a data-driven government, including improving real-time statistics on drug and alcohol abuse for local authorities as well as keeping up with updating resident addresses.
The success of Indiana’s implementation of the site is due in part to strong support from state leadership. The city of Chicago is another example where leadership backing has helped foster a successful model. The city’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT), which helps streamline data use across departments, has had strong support from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office. The agency is dedicated to identifying problems and making data-driven decisions through use of machine learning and analytics.
For example, the city recently completed a pilot project to predict rodent infestations for the Department of Streets and Sanitation. The department was then able to target areas where it should use rodent-baiting, saving on cost and time.
With more support from government leaders, data analytics can vastly improve the frustrating procedures that hamper government productivity. Perhaps Indiana’s success can serve as a future model for more states to get on board with the power of data.