What's data.open.guelph.ca all about?

The Government is releasing public data to help people understand how government works and how policies are made. Some of this data is already available, but data.open.guelph.ca brings it together in one searchable website. Making this data easily available means it will be easier for people to make decisions and suggestions about government policies based on detailed information.

What's available?

There are datasets available from all City of Guelph departments and a number of other public sector bodies and local authorities. Is data just public information? Not really. From data.open.guelph.ca, you can access the raw data driving government forward. This can then be used by people to build useful applications that help society, or investigate how effective policy changes have been over time.

How can I use the data?

You can use the data in all sorts of ways. This may be simply to analyse trends over time from one policy area, or to compare how different parts of government go about their work. Technical users will be able to create useful applications out of the raw data files, which can then be used by everyone.

Who is involved in the project?

data.open.guelph.ca is a key part of Open Guelph, the City's drive to modernize services and provide citizens with a great experience. The Open Data project involves the Open Guelph leadership team, our Information Technology department and representatives from most areas of City work.

There are a number of technical partners involved in the project to date. These include the Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN): CKAN runs the catalogue at data.open.guelph.ca as well as a growing number of open data registries around the world.

How can I get involved?

There are a number of ways of getting involved in the project, dependent on your background or interest. For example:

• Applications: have you built something cool with our data? Share it with us through the Showcases page. You never know who might get excited!

• Visualizations: one of the challenges is making data come to life. Have you found a great way of displaying our data? Does it combine with other data to give a new insight? Show us your talent?

• Architecture: would you like to help us make this site better? Get in touch!

• Comments and feedback: You can provide comments and report issues on datasets as well as give feedback on the potential impact of a dataset.