MAYOR WALSH, DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY LAUNCH ANALYZE BOSTON

MAYOR WALSH, DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY LAUNCH  ANALYZE BOSTON

BOSTON - Friday, April 7, 2017 - Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) today launched Analyze Boston, the City's open data hub. Analyze Boston will create a user-friendly digital catalog of facts, figures, and maps that reflect on life in Boston, such as maps of Boston's historic districts and datasets of 311 services requests. "In Boston we don't shy away from new technologies -- we embrace them as we look for ways to better serve the residents of our City," said Mayor Walsh. "Building off of previous, successful models like CityScore and 311, Analyze Boston will make civic data easily available to all our residents." Analyze Boston curates more than a hundred datasets, enriches them with descriptive information, and pairs them with tools for data exploration and analysis to broaden their accessibility. Most importantly, the site presents the City's data with plain language and vivid imagery to spark the imaginations of all City residents, regardless of technical background. Sparked by a grant from the Knight Foundation's News Challenge competition, the City's Department of Innovation and Technology partnered with the Boston Public Library to create a user-friendly digital catalog of facts, figures, and maps that reflect on life in Boston. "Boston has been an innovator in using data and analytics to improve many aspects of City Services," said Andrew Therriault, the City's first Chief Data Officer. "I am thrilled to share all the work we've done on Analyze Boston with our residents so they can better access open data in their City. Analyze Boston represents our desire to share meaningful data and information with everyone in this city in a way that is clear and relevant." Analyze Boston is the City's latest step to set a better example by improving government transparency, increasing accountability and fostering civic participation throughout Boston. This next generation open data hub will support the city's goal of publishing open datasets of high quality with clear public value. During the site's beta period, the Analyze Boston team shared how they planned to re-imagine the open data experience and asked for feedback to help figure out how to make the site as functional as possible for current and future users. Working with partners AppGeo and OpenGov, the Department of Innovation and Technology worked to build out the site, and improve its functionality. The newest features coming to Boston include implemented data dictionaries, added downloadable file formats, an enhanced data preview experience and improved content. There will be more datasets and improvements as the year goes on. The release is a significant milestone for the Knight Foundation funded "Open Data to Open Knowledge" project, which seeks to democratize access to the City's datasets. For more information on Analyze Boston visit boston.gov, sign up for their newsletter or follow them on Twitter at @AnalyzeBoston.