Play 2 – Playbook for Morrisville

PLAY NUMBER TWO: All Things Are Open in Morrisville, The Open Data Strategy.

One of my major goals is to make the Town of Morrisville the Number One Destination for Technology Entrepreneurs. We have more technology employees and companies in our Town than most Cities/Towns in the State. (Lenovo, Cisco, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft)

An innovative Open Data Platform and Initiative is a critical play which we need to execute so we can be the Number One Tech City in the State!

Open Data can help our Council make Data Driven Decisions, increase citizen Engagement, lead to more start up companies, and provide for a more open, efficient and transparent Government for our Residents.

In November 2020, The Town of Morrisville unveiled its Open Data Portal, which will allow the Town to continue to increase its transparency by simplifying public access to Morrisville’s information.

Open data is data and datasets that are freely available to the public. Users—anyone in the world with internet access—will be able to utilize the new web-based tool to create graphs, charts and maps based on the datasets. They will be able to download the data, interact with it, reuse it, and redistribute it.

Datasets are organized under the headings of Administration, Environment, Planning and Permits, Public Safety, Recreation and Transportation. The initial Open Data Portal launch includes a handful of datasets with more datasets coming online at regular intervals.

The new website, which includes demonstration videos outlining how to use the site, can be found at the Morrisville Open Data Portal.

Open Data Playbook

1) Host Quarterly Open Data Hackathons, where we can provide Data Sets to citizens so we can encourage the development of Apps, and Services which can create apps, which can bring myriad efficiencies to the Town and improve our lives.   I am organizing an Open Data Hackathon this Spring and will keep you updated on these efforts.

2) Schools and Transportation Data Dashboard:

When we are faced with rezonings and approving residential development, many citizens express concerns about adding more congestions to the roads and students to overcrowded schools. Let us ask the Smart City Advisory Committee to find, and share Real Time Schools and Transportation Data, so we know exactly at any given time, how many school kids reside in our Multi Family Communities, along with real time vehicle counts on major state roads and intersections in Morrisville.

This Data should be presented on a Dashboard, so our decisions are not only based on emotional, Social Media Posts or emails, but also based on unbiased, accurate data.

Open Data can assist our Council to make better Data Driven Decisions and can also can provide the Residents and Public, a more open, and Transparent Government.

3. Open Data can create More Start Ups Companies and Jobs!:
The Town of Morrisville Open Data initiative can fuel economic growth with a few projects getting off the ground, by venture funding, creating jobs, and opportunities. Morrisville will be a destination for visionary entrepreneurs to start Open Data companies, adding more jobs, and attracting more start up talent to the Town!

4. Increasing Citizen Engagement:
Our Open Data Initiative will also help us connect and engage with many of our residents, as many of our Town residents, are Technology entrepreneurs or work in the Technology Industry. In line with our Live Connected and Live Well Brand, what better way to connect our Citizens to the Town Policies, and Initiatives, than to connect them to our Technology and Data Initiatives!
Please send me your ideas on how we can develop one of the most innovative Open Data Programs in the State and Nation!