Our services

This Open Data Portal is just one tool for helping people get and use data. Publishing the raw, granular data is often just the first step in a larger project. Here is an overview of some of the other things the City’s Data & Analytics team can do to increase transparency and improve operations with data.

Data stories and web apps

A resident or City employee might have a question about the City that can be answered with data but not the time to download and analyze a large dataset. We can take popular data and turn it into information displayed in a data story or a stand-alone web app.

See the data stories we’ve already published, or check out our popular web app streets.sandiego.gov.

Alerting

The data on the portal is updated automatically on a schedule, thanks to a system we built to extract data from City sources and transform it for publication. We can use this same system to generate emails alerting you when the data is updated.

Analytics

Our analytics services help City departments answer questions or solve problems with data. So far, we’ve partnered with City Treasurer, Risk Management, Transportation and Stormwater, DSD, and Get It Done.

Some examples of the work we’ve done:

• Used OpenDSD data to evaluate historical changes in permit issue time
• Analyzed public liability claims data to understand patterns
• Displayed open and closed parking meters in the city on a map. This project is still under development and relies on data from a vendor that provides the City’s smart parking meters
• Automated reporting and data delivery for Transportation & Storm Water Department’s Streets Division. City staff used to spend a large amount of time manually creating reports every month. Report creation is now automated, and staff get an email with updated files every day.

Advising and presenting

City governments around the world look to our Data & Analytics program for guidance on what a successful open data program looks like, how they can automate data updates, and how open source tools can decrease program costs. Our team has presented on a range of topics, including smart cities, open data, data science in government, and civic tech, among others.

A few of our recent speaking engagements include:

• Harvard’s Summit on Data-Smart Government This summit is organized by the university’s Civic Analytics Network (CAN), a group of government Chief Data Officers. San Diego’s CDO Maksim Pecherskiy is a CAN member.
• Open Data Science Conference, on the topic of Building Data Science infrastructure at City of San Diego
• GE’s Minds + Machines Industrial Internet conference
• Puerto Rico’s Dear Fiscal Board
• World Council on City Data Global Cities Summit

Workshops and classes

We have also spent time in the classroom at UCSD and teaching workshops for groups such as Open San Diego, a Code for America brigade meetup.