“Open Data” means making data freely available for everyone’s use. It puts impactful information right in your hands. By sharing data, a diverse range of communities can build tools, make data-driven decisions, and promote organizations and services throughout the city.

Check out the cool new video we released today to help explain how open data can help YOU.

The release of more than 200 datasets from 33 city departments have powered a variety of applications that help Philadelphians do everything from research the valuation, tax and physical details of properties they might want to buy, look up a neighborhood’s crime history, or locate bike lanes, KEYSPOTS public computer centers, and healthy corner stores.

Open Data has helped make our government more accessible and accountable than ever before. I’m excited to continue these efforts and to help raise awareness about how this data can help you. The impact of this data can benefit all Philadelphians – not just the technology inclined.

You can use the data to improve the overall quality of your daily life and how you interact with the city. My vision is to deliver more efficient and effective government services and Open Data is a great way to do just that!

The City of Philadelphia releases data on the community-owned portal, OpenDataPhilly.org. For additional resources on how to use Philadelphia’s open data portal, visit OpenDataPhilly’s Resources page, which includes video tutorials and links to tools to analyze data.

Be sure to follow @PhilaGovData on Twitter to get alerts on new data released in the future.