City of Toronto launches new Open Data Portal
TORONTO, May 2, 2018 /CNW/ - City Councillor Paul Ainslie (Ward 43 Scarborough East), the City's Chief Information Officer, Rob Meikle, and other City staff launched Toronto's new Open Data Portal earlier this evening at an event at the Toronto Reference Library. The Portal is a key outcome of the City's new Open Data Master Plan and Roadmap.
"Open and transparent government are hallmarks of a modern and progressive city," said Councillor Ainslie. "This new Open Data Portal will benefit everyone, especially our thriving and evolving tech and business communities, both of which understand the value and potential of government data that is made available."
The portal, which will be updated and enhanced in phases, is a user-friendly web page that is available to anyone, regardless of technical knowledge or background. Members of the public can use the portal to access and visually interact with meaningful government data in a way that's never before been made available by the City.
"The most exciting part about this portal is that it was co-created with the public. Thank you to everyone who made this a reality, especially Toronto's open data community, Toronto City Council, and the City of Toronto Open Data team," said Rob Meikle. "Together, we have developed a tool that will visually showcase data, build narratives and tell stories. Data is essential for Smart Cities initiatives, and this portal will activate government innovation and inspire the release of meaningful data that can solve civic issues."
Key features available to the public in the first phase include simplified search capabilities, the ability to tell stories related to the available data, application program interfaces and a new community showcase section that demonstrates the work the public is doing using open data.
The Open Data Portal is available at http://www.toronto.ca/open.
Videos about open data at the City are also available on a YouTube Playlist at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B18B24B60B7994E.
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/TorontoComms, on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/cityofto or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cityofto.
SOURCE City of Toronto
Media contact: Eric Holmes, Strategic Communications, 416-392-2708, [email protected]
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