The Government of Prince Edward Island has taken steps to improve transparency and accessibility to a broad range of data with launch of an open-data portal.
The open-data portal includes a total of 52 existing and new government datasets, such as expenditure and revenue budget estimates and forecasts, civil service age profiles, and ground water level monitoring. The portal can also convert the data into charts and graphs and includes a better search function to make information easier to find.
“The new open data portal is another move by our government toward greater openness and transparency,” Finance Minister Heath MacDonald said. “Many individuals, students and organizations will find having this data readily available to be a huge asset.”
Other data includes pesticide concentrations in stream water, river water, and drinking water, stream level monitoring, and drinking water quality summary results.
Socrata, the portal’s software company, is a market leader in making existing government data discoverable, useable and actionable for government workers and those they serve.
“The new Open Data portal is an important milestone for the Open Data community on Prince Edward Island,” said Michael Easter, co-organizer of PEI Developers. “Civic engagement is ultimately about narrative and dialogue: the embedded visualizations in the new software will shed light on data for many Islanders, including those who are non-technical, and spark conversations.”
