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Open data comes to Syracuse

Tom Magnarelli
/
WRVO News
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner unveiling "DataCuse" Wednesday.

The new online website will allow anyone who’s interested to delve into the massive amounts of data collected by the city of Syracuse. Where are potholes getting patched? What water mains are breaking? Where is lead paint a big issue? These are some of the questions that can be answered on DataCuse, a new online portal that is open to the public.

Syracuse’s Chief Data Officer Sam Edelstein says it’s a boon to anyone who’s interested in the facts and figures that define how the city of Syracuse goes about its business.

"For people who like data, this is fun and exciting and be able to download the data and create charts and maps and be able to create a website where it's calling to this data and it gets updated automatically.”

Edelstein says the information will come as simple databases, as well as charts or maps that put all the databases together. The first batches of data focus on infrastructure and housing. Data on other subjects will be released in the future. It can be accessed by the public at data.syrgov.net.

Mayor Stephanie Miner says this kind of open data policy is the wave of the future.

"This is how people are thinking about governmental services in terms of transparency. And now that resources are as tight as they are. This will help you measure the effectiveness and efficiency of policies put into place.”

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.