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Open data in Brandon will be amazing

Thursday, May. 31, 2012 at 11:51 AM | Comments: 0

The medical term for what just happened to me is a "nerd-gasm." And it's all because the city of Brandon just launched a new website.

To be clear, the city launches new websites with regularity. Brandon In Bloom, the Brandon Environment Committee and Heritage Brandon all have stand-alone sites that are quite nice.

But the one I'm really excited about is the Open Government site, launched Thursday by the city.

The website is a collection of data that City Hall already has, but it's presented in an open, standardized fashion.

For example, you can now download a full list of all the properties in Brandon, complete with their assessed values and the amount of taxes that they pay.

It's all information that was available before. But years ago, you would have to had to trudge over to city hall to take a look at a big book -- if they even had the time to dig it out for you.

Then, a couple of years back, the presented it in a web-friendly map format. You could click through any house in town to find out more.

Now, though, they've opened the floodgates.

With a little bit of manipulation, you could easily use that data to find the highest-taxed areas of the city. Add in things like bus routes, city services like splash parks and nearness to tax-supported infrastructure like the Sportsplex or the Keystone, and you could start to see the flow of money — where it comes from, and where it's spent.

It would take weeks — months! — to correlate all this information by hand. But when they city adds property shapefiles, I could do this in an afternoon. And I'm not even a programmer.

Correlate the assessment informaton with sale listings from MLS.ca and you could make a mash-up that shows where homes are over- or under-valued. An enterprising realtor could also drill down to individual properties, and pick out bargain homes in the best neighbourhoods.

The possibilities, really, are endless.

And yes, the first few data sets are limited. The city hasn't got an API posted yet, for example, which would make it an order of magnitude easier for developers.

But, since I've been beating this drum for a while now, I'm really enthused that the city has taken up the cause. This is just a first, baby step, but what's important is that they've taken it. It shows a commitment to the idea of open data.

I know this personally. Because I've made noises in this respect in the past, I was lucky enough to be invited to City Hall last week for a preview of what they were doing.

I hope they know how impressed I was. But what impressed me most were the plans for what's around the corner.

Now, I won't tip the city's hand here — but if you're interested in open data, or open government, I think the next few months are going to be plenty satisfying in Brandon.

Many kudos to the city for what they've started here.

The next step, of course, is up to us. A quick Google search will turn up dozens of cool things that people have done in other cities, once the data has been provided. There's no way city staff has the time to, say, make a Google map of all the pharmacies in town, and figure out which ones are closed to the bus routes or the bike baths.

But if you had a prescription to fill — and didn't have a car — that's the kind of info that could be useful.

I am eager to see what's around the corner!

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