The governments of the city and county of Durham, North Carolina are forming an open data partnership. Through the partnership, data from both levels of local government will be available to residents, journalists, academics and developers.
“This is a unique collaborative effort that demonstrates a regional commitment,” said Durham County Manager Wendell Davis. “There will be shared costs, a common platform and portal, and a combined effort by both organizations to reach into the community to bring about business development and new community benefits and services.”
Plans are underway now for a joint work plan and project framework, with a projected site launch date of summer 2015. Some of this work will also incorporate previous local and regional efforts from developers through hackathons and Code for America fellowships.
The City-County partnership joins other local government open data efforts that include Wake County and the City of Raleigh. CivSource previously reported on some of Raleigh’s efforts in a Gallery post. The partnership plan is unique as it will offer integrated data instead of a variety of siloed portal sites for each level of government. If effective, Durham could be a model for other regional open data efforts in other states.
