The Minneapolis City Council is taking up the issue of municipal open data at its next meeting. The city is considering codifying an open data policy for the municipal code. The proposed open data plan would create a portal, similar to those in other cities where open, raw data would be stored for public use. Under the current structure, individuals have to formally request data from the city.
In addition to the creation of a portal, the city gives itself 120 days from the time of enactment to make data available. That makes for a quick timeline and may explain why the policy as proposed contains little specificity about the types of data that will be made available.
Departments are directed to consider which types of data they receive the most requests for and start there in terms of releases. All IT procurements after January 1,2015 should also be prepared to interface with the city’s open data policy by providing data as an API or bulk download.
The Chief Information Officer of Minneapolis will be tasked with administering the policy, and individual departments will need to designate an Open Data Coordinator, according to the proposal.
The Council is slated to vote on the policy Wednesday.