City of St. Petersburg Gives Residents Big Data Access

Four months after the mayor of St. Petersburg, FL presented a big data concept — St. Pete Stat — in the National Council of Mayors meeting, the concept has become reality. The tool allows city residents to access and interact with graphs, maps and charts, and other live data. Now residents can more easily explore the city’s departments and ongoing and future work projects.

St. Pete Stat aggregates the data for easy digestion by the public and all city departments. Its open source format eliminates red tape often associated with public information requests and interdepartmental communications.

Initially, developers interviewed key individuals to identify the most helpful data and analytics. The team gradually narrowed data down to a single source of truth to provide everyone with the same insights and information.

The initial launch will include:

• Project Stat, a tool that looks at all current city development projects
• Performance Stat, a performance measurement tool for city departments
• Open Stat, a published data inventory accessible to citizens

See also: Privacy a key issue stalling smart cities projects

The tools will join Stat Map, launched in January. Stat Map shows a visualization of the city’s response to code enforcement complaints and police calls sorted by location. Residents can sign up for customized alerts and follow trends.

“We have been growing our stat program and integrating data into our work at City Hall for a while now, but this is truly the first time we’ve faced this amount of data outward so that our residents can learn more and hold us accountable. I couldn’t be more excited to show off this level of transparency,” said Mayor Rick Kriseman.