Victoria has come a long way in making its municipal data accessible to the public, according to a 2020 index of North America’s most open cities.
The list, created by PSD Research Consulting Software, examines how well cities have implemented open data systems and to what extent that published data – which could range from air quality to construction contracts to crime statistics – has been used for the benefit of the community.
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In 2017, Victoria ranked 29th, but in the last three years it has leapt to 11th place. Overall, PSD gave Victoria a 48.4 per cent score.
The ranking is determined by three categories – readiness, implementation and impact. Readiness looks at whether a city has the funding and staffing necessary to create and sustain an open data program, as well as whether council is on board with the idea. Here, Victoria received its highest score with a 56.6 per cent.
Implementation looks at the number and variety of data sets the city has made publicly available. Victoria got a 44 per cent. Finally, impact looks at whether the data has been used by the public and how it has benefited the community. Victoria received its lowest score here with a 29.3 per cent.
The top three performing cities were Edmonton, Ottawa, and Winnipeg, each with overall scores in the high nineties. In B.C., North Vancouver and Squamish were the only other two cities to make the top 20 list alongside Victoria.
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