New look for Calgary’s open data catalogue

Calgary’s latest release of its open data catalogue is now available at data.calgary.ca.

The catalogue includes raw data which is intended to be used, reused and redistributed by anyone under the terms of an open data license. The City aims to increase government transparency through the release of civic information.

“We redesigned our original concept for the open data catalogue based on stakeholder feedback after a pilot program,” explains Peter Talbot, manager, Access Solutions. Talbot adds, “We are excited to provide a tool to distribute data from The City of Calgary, and we encourage citizens to get involved in helping determine future releases of open data.”

The new open data catalogue offers 88 sets of data available for public use and includes new features, such as RSS feeds and a simplified Terms of Use. While some specialized software can assist in reorganizing and analyzing the data, many of the geospatial data sets can be displayed using Google and Bing Maps. 

Bruce Cullen, Director, Infrastructure & Information Services, says “We encourage citizens to get involved in the open data process and share their creations with The City, whether it’s an app or piece of research using open data.” The website includes a discussion board for sharing ideas and exploring open data.

As part of the launch, The City has released several new data sets including: traffic incidents, Roads/311 service requests and 2013 election results.

The term, open data, refers to data that is made available for free, without restrictions (anybody can use it) and can be used for any purpose, including commercial purposes. 

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For more information contact:

Melanie MacKenzie

Communications Consultant

Infrastructure and Information Services, The City of Calgary

Media phone: 403-828-2954