Orlando residents can find detailed, interactive maps and tables with data on when and how many crimes took place in their neighborhood. They can scroll through tax receipts for local businesses and check out timelines for construction projects and garbage collection.
The city’s spokesman Matt Brottman calls the site a one-stop information shop that is designed to make sense to people.
“We don’t want it to just be a bunch of spreadsheets with tables and rows," he says. "We want it to be interactive and allow for somebody who’s not a data scientist to be able to analyze some of the basic data sets.”
The open data portal is part of a push by the city to be more transparent with the public. Officials also hope new businesses will use it to find out where to set up shop.
Sexual assault data will be available from the Orlando Police Department in the future. The city says it is the first Florida law enforcement agency planning to release such data.