A treasure trove of East Baton Rouge Parish data, ranging from crime statistics to recently filed building permits, is now available to the world via one central location on the Web.
Mayor Kip Holden’s office announced Friday the launch of Open Data BR, a publicly accessible website that unlocks a plethora of statistics that previously was not readily available online. The content includes fire and police data, city-parish employee salaries, building permits and active business listings. The information can be downloaded for free.
Holden’s office says additional data sets will be added to the site as existing information is maintained and updated.
“Our eventual goal is to create an open government at all levels by publishing each and every city-parish data point that may be of public interest,” Holden said in a news release announcing the digital page.
The Holden administration is lauding the site as the first in a series of digital initiatives the mayor highlighted in his annual State of the City address earlier this month as a way to make the city-parish more transparent.
Before Open Data BR’s creation, most city-parish data were maintained by separate agencies with limited public access. The new site puts much of the information into one user-friendly channel.
“The launch of Open Data BR is a critical step toward growing a strong, vibrant digital economy here in Baton Rouge,” Holden said. “We believe this initiative will truly revolutionize how the public interacts with our city-parish data.”
The city-parish followed recommendations from IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge Grant last year in creating Open Data BR, according to Holden’s office.
Check out the website. —Robert Stewart
