10/21/09 – Today, Mayor Newsom joined with City departments and technology visionary Tim O’Reilly to announce an Open Data Executive Directive (PDF) for San Francisco. The Directive requires City departments make all non confidential datasets under their authority available on DataSF.org, the city’s one stop web site for government data.

“The City’s new Open Data policy will enhance open government, transparency, and accountability by improving access to City data,” said Mayor Newsom. “By providing more government data, San Francisco’s world class technology community will be able to create useful civic tools, with no cost to City government.”

The initial phase of DataSF includes more than 100 datasets, from a range of city departments, including Police, Public Works, and the Municipal Transportation Agency. Read more.

10/14/09 - Today, Mayor Newsom announced that San Francisco is going to transform the City’s 311 Customer Service Center into a tool of even greater value by building an Open 311 platform. Open 311 will allow software developers to write web applications that do two things: 1) get service request data from the 311 system, and 2) submit new service requests to city departments.

"The success of DataSF and the DataSF App Showcase has proven that the public will create innovative applications when given access to the information they need," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. "We anticipate the same response and innovation from Open 311."

The 311 Customer Service Center, which launched in March 2007, has answered over 7 million calls and serves callers in more than 176 languages. Making an Open 311 API (Application Programming Interface) will open the current 311 service to those who wish to build applications on top of it. Read more.

After the kick off there was a discussion about next steps for Gov 2.0 in San Francisco with Tim O’Reilly, Matt Mullenweg and other technology innovators. One idea was to create a City App Store to highlight and centralize programs created from City data. This has worked for Apple and Facebook, at last check; there are 60,000 apps available in the Apple App store and more than 350,000 different Facebook apps. Why not create a government app store as well?

Today, I’m pleased to announce the launch of the DataSF App Showcase (www.datasf.org/showcase). The site will celebrate the innovators and innovations from a more collaborative and open government. On the site the public can browse examples of new ways in which Bay Area constituents are using City data to improve San Francisco. Read more

 The Obama Administration recognizes Mayor Newsom's initiative to improve transparency and access to city data. On the White House blog, the Administration writes: “Last week, San Francisco launched DataSF.org. Modeled on our very own Data.gov, DataSF.gov provides easy access to a clearinghouse of structured, raw and machine-readable government data.  San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he hopes the city’s coders and entrepreneurs will use the data to create new innovative services ‘never imagined within the walls of government’”. 

- Read more on the White House blog.

- Visit DataSF