PRESS RELEASE DETAIL
For release: IMMEDIATELY
Release Date: 03/02/2017
Mayor Broome announces launch of Open Neighborhood BR platform
Office of Mayor-President
City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge
SHARON WESTON BROOME
Mayor-President
March 2, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Eric Romero, Director of Information Services: (225) 389-3070
Dr. Tamiara Wade, Asst. Chief Administrative Officer, (225) 389-3100
Michelle McCalope, Communications Office: (225) 389-7957
BATON ROUGE – Open Neighborhood BR, a new digital resource for residents, is now live, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced today. The platform, located at my.brla.gov, is focused on providing residents with up-to-date, map-based information on recent incidents involving City-Parish agencies – from recent police, fire, and traffic incidents to 311 requests for service and building permits.
“One of the most important resources our local government can provide to the residents we serve is information,” Mayor Broome said. “With Open Neighborhood BR, we’re taking the next step by leveraging public datasets, technology, and innovation to help Baton Rouge residents understand what’s going on in their own neighborhoods, and use that information to work with us to create a better quality-of-life for our entire community.
The Open Neighborhood BR platform is a first of its kind resource, leveraging public datasets available through the Open Data BR portal – along with geographic information systems (GIS) map layers available through the eBRGIS program – to provide unprecedented insights into neighborhood-level activity through searchable map views and custom date ranges involving recent incidents or requests for service surrounding a specific address or street. These same searches can also be filtered by neighborhood, ZIP code, or Metro Council District. Residents can create a free account, allowing them to save their searches to refer back at any time or opt to receive a daily, weekly, or monthly email with updates about new incidents or activity in their saved search area.
Mayor Broome’s launch of Open Neighborhood BR coincides with International Open Data Day, held annually March 4, an annual celebration of open data focused on demonstrating the benefits of open data and encouraging the adoption of open data policies in government, business, and society. The platform is part of a pilot effort and partnership between the City-Parish and Socrata – one of the world’s leading providers of data platforms and cloud applications for government organizations – making Baton Rouge the first municipality to use this neighborhood-based connection platform.
“While Open Data BR has been extremely successful in moving data into the public domain, helping Baton Rouge achieve a Top 10 ranking for the past two years through the U.S. Open Data Census, we’ve always recognized that we would need to take the next step from simply publishing our data to making it meaningful for our residents and community,” said Eric Romero, Director of Information Services. “Open Neighborhood BR is a perfect next step as we continue to think innovatively about using technology to make more informed decisions, deliver better services, and meet the needs of all our residents.”
For more information, visit http://my.brla.gov.
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