Accela Open Data Civic Data

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Open data refers to efforts by federal, state and local governments to release data they maintain to outside users in “open” formats. Open formats refer to file formats that are machine-readable— data is formatted so that software programs or tools can easily ingest it and allow a user to start working with it. CSV, XML, JSON and other file formats are generally considered to be open. The primary users of open data are app developers, researchers and academics, among others. In contrast, public data is data that is made available for viewing by the public on a government website—typically on a record-by-record basis. This data is typically meant for more casual viewing by interested parties (for example, citizens who want to look up information on their own properties or that of a neighbor’s). The primary users of public data are citizens. Does open data come from the Accela Civic Platform? Yes. We can configure the Civic Platform to push data out to our public data portal, CivicData.com. Typically, we work with agencies to push out public data that is already available through Accela Citizen Access (ACA). This enables our customers to publish data that is already publicly available in a machine-readable format and make it open. Data that is available on CivicData.com can be downloaded and used by developers, researchers and academics in their system or platform of choice. In addition, the site provides a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that software developers can use to build apps, maps and other services. One side note: Civic Platform data is also made available to development partners through the Accela Construct API. Although the data made available through the Construct API uses open formats and APIs, it is not—technically speaking—open, because we require development partners to sign up for an account and authenticate before they can use it. The end goal of the Construct API is similar to the goal of making data available through CivicData. com, which is to enable outside developers to build valuable tools and services with government data. With the Construct API, our goal is to encourage development of solutions and tools that are more tightly integrated with the Civic Platform than other kinds of open data apps. How does open data help government agencies? Many of our agency customers are pursuing open data programs because of administrative or legislative mandates. By providing easy ways to take public data from the Civic Platform and populate CivicData.com for external users, we are helping our customers fulfill their obligations under these mandates. In addition, in instances where sought-after data is made available only as public data (i.e. only made available through something like ACA), users may need to resort to less-than-ideal methods to obtain it. Publishing open data on CivicData.com can help reduce the unwanted web traffic on agency websites that results from “data scraping.” Data scraping puts unnecessary stress on agency technology infrastructure and unneeded burden on IT staff. Alternatively, users who don’t have the technical sophistication needed to build data scrapers may file FOIA or Right to Know requests. For highly sought-after data, agencies may need to field multiple time-consuming requests to fulfill them. One open data release may address multiple requests for information that can be repetitive and costly to respond to if addressed on an individual basis. What Is Open Data & Why Is It So Important?

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Civic Data Technology

Transcript of Accela Open Data Civic Data

Page 1: Accela Open Data Civic Data

Open data refers to efforts by federal, state and local governments to release data they maintain to outside users in “open” formats. Open formats refer to file formats that are machine-readable—data is formatted so that software programs or tools can easily ingest it and allow a user to start working with it. CSV, XML, JSON and other file formats are generally considered to be open. The primary users of open data are app developers, researchers and academics, among others.

In contrast, public data is data that is made available for viewing by the public on a government website—typically on a record-by-record basis. This data is typically meant for more casual viewing by interested parties (for example, citizens who want to look up information on their own properties or that of a neighbor’s). The primary users of public data are citizens.

Does open data come from the Accela Civic Platform?Yes. We can configure the Civic Platform to push data out to our public data portal, CivicData.com. Typically, we work with agencies to push out public data that is already available through Accela Citizen Access (ACA). This enables our customers to publish data that is already publicly available in a machine-readable format and make it open.

Data that is available on CivicData.com can be downloaded and used by developers, researchers and academics in their system or platform of choice. In addition, the site provides a rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that software developers can use to build apps, maps and other services.

One side note: Civic Platform data is also made available to development partners through the Accela Construct API. Although the data made available through the Construct API uses open formats and APIs, it is not—technically speaking—open, because we require development partners to sign up for an account and authenticate before they can use it.

The end goal of the Construct API is similar to the goal of making data available through CivicData.com, which is to enable outside developers to build valuable tools and services with government data. With the Construct API, our goal is to encourage development of solutions and tools that are more tightly integrated with the Civic Platform than other kinds of open data apps.

How does open data help government agencies?Many of our agency customers are pursuing open data programs because of administrative or legislative mandates. By providing easy ways to take public data from the Civic Platform and populate CivicData.com for external users, we are helping our customers fulfill their obligations under these mandates.

In addition, in instances where sought-after data is made available only as public data (i.e. only made available through something like ACA), users may need to resort to less-than-ideal methods to obtain it. Publishing open data on CivicData.com can help reduce the unwanted web traffic on agency websites that results from “data scraping.” Data scraping puts unnecessary stress on agency technology infrastructure and unneeded burden on IT staff.

Alternatively, users who don’t have the technical sophistication needed to build data scrapers may file FOIA or Right to Know requests. For highly sought-after data, agencies may need to field multiple time-consuming requests to fulfill them. One open data release may address multiple requests for information that can be repetitive and costly to respond to if addressed on an individual basis.

What Is Open Data & Why Is It So Important?

Page 2: Accela Open Data Civic Data

How does open data help agencies serve citizens?Releasing data that has been collected and/or maintained through the operation of government enhances transparency and can help citizens become better informed about their communities and more engaged with their elected representatives.

In addition, by releasing open data, governments may help to stimulate new and innovative ideas from the technology community. There is great potential for open data to act as the fuel for new solutions and even new businesses that can address common problems or challenges facing governments and those they serve.

When data is released in open formats through sites like CivicData.com, these benefits are more quickly and more fully realized.

How does open data help Accela?Accela has developed a partner program that will encourage software developers to build new apps and services on top of the Civic Platform through the Construct API. This program includes a revenue-sharing agreement that will bring in new revenue to the company as more of the partner apps are taken up by customers. In addition, the development of new apps also serves to increase our overall ecosystem of users, which makes our platform more valuable.

The universe of potential partners for building these new apps with the Construct API is a subset of the larger community of people building new apps and services through open data sites like CivicData.com. By encouraging developers to use data from CivicData.com, which ultimately comes from an Accela system—and by encouraging developers to use other components like CivicID—we can provide an easy pathway to our developer program for civic hackers and other open data users.

The more people we can encourage to build things with data that comes from, or is managed by, Accela, the more benefits we can bring to government agencies, citizens, developers and the growing Accela ecosystem.

About Accela Accela powers thousands of services and millions of transactions daily for large and small public agencies worldwide. We connect government to people and accelerate and streamline land management, licensing, asset management, and public health and safety processes. The Accela Civic Platform includes cloud-based, office, mobile and social applications to support government agency, business and citizen needs and a robust open platform and business model for developers. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., with international offices in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit www.accela.com. ©2014 Accela, Inc. All rights reserved.

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CivicData.com provides a rich set of APIs that software developers can use to build apps, maps and other services.