FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 12, 2014

MEDIA CONTACTS
Gwen Schuler, Media and Communications, gschuler@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5160
Megan Marquett, Media and Communications, mmarquett@cityoftacoma.org, (253) 591-5051

City Launches New Platform to Increase Access to Information

The City of Tacoma’s Information Technology (IT) Department launched a pilot program today as part an effort to improve access to information and government transparency through an open data platform.

TacomaData, which is powered by Socrata, is a cloud software that hosts City data such as crime statistics, public works infrastructure projects and major employers.

“The City of Tacoma is committed to openness and transparency,” Information Technology Director Jack Kelanic said. “We see the value that information can provide to the community and we want to make information easily accessible to our residents.”

TacomaData currently has over 60 data sets from 11 contributing City departments. Users can create different “views” such as heat maps, graphs and charts to view the data in the most visually relevant way to display the information to meet their needs.

The IT Department has plans to evaluate the program in 2015 after residents have had the opportunity to use the platform and provide feedback.

Residents can access TacomaData at https://data.cityoftacoma.org.