DataLA

Information, Insights, and Analysis from the City of Los Angeles

[datala]

Why @ramosaj2019 joined #OpenDataLA

I started in January 2016, right after Chelsea. I’m a first year computer science major at the University of Southern California. I have been interested in Data Analysis and Statistics ever since I visited Washington D.C. and realized that the intersection between my love of computer science and math, and public policy lay in analyzing data released by open data sources. When I got the opportunity to work for one of the best Open Data teams in the country I couldn’t say no! I love working with data because of the inferences you can draw from it. With just a few numbers and calculations, you can predict what will happen years in the future. This aids immensely in decision making, and analysis of a problem. As a CS major, I love to solve problems, and Data helps me understand a problem before I solve it.

[datala]

@00_Krishna A Data Mystery

Meet the man that keeps the office lively! 

In the year 2029, the Cyberdyne Corporation built Krishna as a revolutionary prototype for a Skynet compatible robotic interface. We all know how that turned out. After Skynet was destroyed and Judgement Day forestalled, Krishna wandered from auto show to autoshow working as a male robotic spokesmodel. After his dismissal due to incompatibilties with Windows 10, Mr.Bhogaonker worked for a brief time as an automatic ironing machine at his uncles dry cleaning shop. It was here that Lilian Coral found and and repurposed him to serve the open data needs of Los Angeles.

Krishna now lives to collect data from departments across the city of Los Angeles. In his spare time he computes statistical algorithms and is actively searching for the final decimal value of pi.

P.S. If anyone happens to know the present location of John Conner, please upload it to the LA Geohub.

[datala]

Meet @pwnerchelsea

I started on the data team in January 2016 and am also currently getting a Masters in Business Analytics at USC. In honor of Open Data Day, I'd like to highlight two of my favorite “data superpowers”, if you will:

1. Data informs the decisions we make, the questions we ask, and the goals we set. And open data means better data. When majoring in public policy at Duke, I developed a love of decision science - tools like game theory and decision analysis that enable one to make an "optimal decision." However, if you don't have solid estimates of costs, benefits, and likelihoods, then it's all meaningless. To get to agreeable estimates, we NEED lots of people accessing and asking questions about the data.

For example, one of my primary projects here will be working on the open budget portal, similar to the one the White House launched earlier this month. Our short-term goal is to make a lengthy document more interactive and comprehensible for all Angelenos, but the long term vision is to encourage departments and the public to have educated dialogues about how we're spending money.

2. Data motivates people to tackle challenges by establishing a baseline and measurement of progress. Open data means government, individuals, and NGOs can work together toward common goals.

The City's Performance Dashboard provides a great illustration of this concept, though it's by no means in its final form. Visitors to the site are able to view the City’s goals and corresponding performance metrics, which are either on- or off-track.  These visuals unlock a basic human drive to develop and accomplish, to compete and improve. However, to stay motivating, the metrics and visual cues must be linked to actions the viewer can take in his or her own life to change the data. This is why I'm particularly excited about our team's burgeoning focus on narrative and context with tools such as ArcGIS Story Maps on the GeoHub, which feature explanatory text next to a map or chart.

* I highly recommend the book Actionable Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou if you’re interested in learning more.

[datala]

Just released! Health data on the Geohub - thanks to the collaboration between the LA City Dept of Transportation and LA County Dept of Public Health. Check out how walkable your part of the city is, and take a stroll this weekend! 

[datala]

Reminiscing on our biggest hackathons this year! Thanks to the Hacker Fund for making it happen! #YouthHackLA #OpenData #Hacktoberfest

[datala]

City of LA GIS working group meeting #datala

[datala]

“A few weeks ago, over 500 Angelenos gathered at our city’s Department of Water and Power at 8am on a Saturday morning. This is not the typical scene you see at one of our public utilities, but this was not a typical weekend. Saturday and Sunday, June 6-7, was the National Day of Civic Hacking, a 100+ city event organized by the White House where residents offered to give up a day or their whole weekend to use their skills to make their cities better.” - Mayor Eric Garcetti

[vasquezsays]

Still riding the entrepreneurial high from #hackforla - had to represent. #dtla #techLA

[datala]

git commit -m “Updated city of LA style guide”

From the Information Technology Agency:

Take part in a unique opportunity to help unify and improve the design and usability of City of LA websites and apps. The City’s Web Team has been working on a proposed Style Guide to be used as the go-to style resource for all site and app development. Not only is this Style Guide supposed to help streamline development, but it should provide great-looking style that can be used by all City Departments while ensuring responsiveness and accessibility. Get involved: https://gitlab.com/itawebservices/lacitypatterns

[datala]

Minimal Maps: http://www.michaelpecirno.com/minimal-maps/

[datala]

Los Angeles lets you access, visualize, and share its budget and financial information on the OpenGov Platform

[datala]

LA City is working to transform  underused areas in our Communities into active, vibrant, and accessible public spaces with People St, a program of the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). Check out the latest maps of current projects at: http://peoplest.lacity.org/projects/

[datala]

Focusing on dollars and cents, a recent McKinsey analysis suggests that capturing the full potential of government digitization around the world could free up to $1 trillion annually in economic value through improved cost and operational performance.

A Steady Erosion Of Confidence In Government | TechCrunch

[datala]

Happy Pi Day from #dataLA

[datala]

The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has joined with the PulsePoint Foundation and The Wireless Foundation to bring life-saving technology to Angelenos via PulsePoint, a mobile app designed to increase citizen awareness of cardiac events beyond a traditional “witnessed” area and engage them in potentially life-saving CPR.

PulsePoint.org | Los Angeles Fire Department Partners with PulsePoint Foundation

[datala]

#makeALcare

[datala]

"HistoricPlacesLA is the first online information and management system specifically created to inventory, map and help protect the City of Los Angeles’ significant historic resources. It showcases the city's diversity of historic resources, including architecturally significant buildings and places of social importance, as well as historic districts, bridges, parks, and streetscapes."