I started a company that works extensively with geospatial data and I often interact with cities from across the country (https://angel.co/civic-insight). Learning how to get access to government data was probably one of most challenging parts of starting up, but I've seen a significant evolution in the thinking of governments in the past few years.
I was a Code for America Fellow in 2012 (I am still heavily involved in the space) and back then any talk of publishing datasets, shapefiles or having "APIs" was thought to be an exotic topic reserved for fancy cities with large budgets like San Francisco and Boston. It was something that smaller cities would love to have but don't have the resources to do anything about it.
But that's not the case anymore. Even a lot of the smaller cities now understand that opening up now gives them access to a new ecosystem of tools and technologies that are rapidly developing.
It is really easy to be cynical about government policies and feel like there is little that can be done to change them, but it seems like what you are doing and orgs within the government, like 18F, are having success in changing the game, at least when it comes to tech.
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I started a company that works extensively with geospatial data and I often interact with cities from across the country (https://angel.co/civic-insight). Learning how to get access to government data was probably one of most challenging parts of starting up, but I've seen a significant evolution in the thinking of governments in the past few years.
I was a Code for America Fellow in 2012 (I am still heavily involved in the space) and back then any talk of publishing datasets, shapefiles or having "APIs" was thought to be an exotic topic reserved for fancy cities with large budgets like San Francisco and Boston. It was something that smaller cities would love to have but don't have the resources to do anything about it.
But that's not the case anymore. Even a lot of the smaller cities now understand that opening up now gives them access to a new ecosystem of tools and technologies that are rapidly developing.
Hence, our startup.
Also, the California Supreme Court ruled that Shapefiles must be made available to the public at almost no cost. See summary of case here: http://www.ocregister.com/taxdollars/county-519947-landbase-...
Oh, and when it comes to SLC. Here ya go:
http://gis.utah.gov/data/sgid-cadastre/parcels/
ftp://ftp.agrc.utah.gov/UtahSGID_Vector/UTM12_NAD83/CADASTRE/UnpackagedData/Parcels_SaltLake/
Awesome!
It is really easy to be cynical about government policies and feel like there is little that can be done to change them, but it seems like what you are doing and orgs within the government, like 18F, are having success in changing the game, at least when it comes to tech.
Thanks and keep up the good work.