PHILADELPHIA – The City of Philadelphia released a video as part of its continuing effort to educate Philadelphians on open data. Over the past few years, the release of more than 200 datasets from 33 City departments have powered a variety of applications that help residents do everything from research the valuation, tax and physical details of properties they might want to buy, look up a neighborhood’s crime history, or locate bike lanes, KEYSPOTS public computer centers, and healthy corner stores. The video is available HERE.

“The City’s open data initiatives have made our government more accessible and accountable than ever before,” said Mayor Jim F. Kenney. “I am excited to continue these efforts under my administration and to help raise awareness about the program’s benefits. More Philadelphians need to appreciate the impact this data has – not just the technologically inclined – so that they can utilize it to improve their daily lives and their interactions with the City. This is just another way that we’ll be working to raise the bar on what it means to deliver efficient, effective government services.”

The term “open data” means making data freely available for everyone’s use. Open data does not only increase government accessibility and accountability, it puts impactful information in the hands of the people. By sharing data with residents, researchers, social service providers, technologists, and others, a diverse range of communities can build tools, make data-driven decisions, and promote organizations and services throughout the city.

The City of Philadelphia releases data on the community-owned portal, OpenDataPhilly.org. For additional resources on how to use Philadelphia’s open data portal, visit OpenDataPhilly’s Resources page, which includes video tutorials and links to tools to analyze data. Follow @PhilaGovData on Twitter to get alerts on new data released in the future.