Open Data
In May 2016 Brantford City Council approved the launch of the City’s Open Data Initiative endorsing the principles of open and accessible data by supporting a directive to freely share with citizens, businesses, and other jurisdictions the greatest amount of data possible, while respecting privacy, legal or security concerns.
In recent years, a movement within federal, provincial and municipal levels of government to open data for public use has gained considerable momentum. Since April 2016 the Government of Ontario has published over 500 open data sets as part of its Open Data Directive.
The City of Brantford shares the same commitment to creating a more open and transparent government for our citizens and recognizes that an Open Data Portal is the next step to information sharing with our community. “Much like our recently launched online Community Strategic Plan, this initiative demonstrates effective use of technology, leveraging the collective work of staff who create and maintain the City’s data day in and day out”, said Hazel English, the City’s Director of Information Technology Services. “Our goal is to make public information as accessible and easy to understand as possible.”
Currently, the City makes information such as transit routes and schedules, and waste collection zones available on its websites. The concept of Open Data is to provide the same information in its raw form so anyone can perform their own analysis or develop applications (desktop, web and/or mobile) that makes use of the City’s data. The new Portal features interactive maps and charts driven by the City’s data and provides the same information in a variety of formats ready for consumption (machine-readable) by common software applications and development languages.
Initially, the City’s Open Data Portal will provide access to datasets tagged by any of twelve categories including Local Government, Base Maps, Heritage, Road Construction & Closures, Parks & Recreation, Social Services, Points of Interest, Transportation, Environment, Health & Safety, Arts, Culture & Tourism and Land Use & Development. The initial phase of the launch focuses primarily on geographical datasets, collectively referred to as the Data Catalogue. In the near future, the Catalogue will continue to expand to make it easier to find information about the City’s programs, services, operations and activities.
The Open Data Portal can be accessed at http://data.brantford.opendata.arcgis.com/
Frequently Asked Questions
| What is open data? |
The philosophy behind Open Data is:
The concept of Open Data is to provide information in its raw form so anyone can perform their own analysis on the data, or develop applications (desktop, web and/or mobile) that makes use of our data. Our Open Data Portal features interactive maps and charts driven by our data and provides the same information in a variety of formats ready for consumption (machine-readable) by common software applications and development languages. These formats include spreadsheets and common mapping formats including KML, shapefile, GeoJSON and GeoService. |
| What is a dataset? |
| A dataset is a collection of information or data presented in a structured manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing by a machine or computer program. Examples include spreadsheets and common mapping formats including KML, shapefile, GeoJSON and GeoService. |
| Why is the city offering Open Data? |
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We recognize that our Open Data Portal is the next step to information sharing in our Community. Open Data supports our commitment to:
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| How do I contact the Open Data team? |
| The Open Data Team may be reached via email. |
| Will all City data be released? |
| The Open Data Team will coordinate with staff throughout the organization to review suggestions received and provide guidance in identifying datasets to augment our initial offerings. Once datasets have gone thru an approval process they will be made available online. Keep in mind that not all data can be released due to privacy and confidentiality issues. |
| What file formats are available? |
| Spreadsheets (CSV) and common mapping formats including KML, shapefile, GeoJSON and GeoService. |
| What file datum and projection is available? |
| The datasets are available for download using the WGS84 projection. |
| How frequently is the data updated? |
| Staff Departments within the City manage their own data sets and update them as required to meet business needs. |
| Do I have to pay or register to use the City of Brantford Open Data? |
| No - you are not required to pay for or register to make use of our Open Data. |
| Can I use this data commercially? |
| Yes. As per our Open Data Licence available in the footer of the Open Data Portal. |
| How is my personal information protected? Will personal information be at risk? |
| No personal information is allowed to be made public as defined by the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The City of Brantford complies with freedom of information and privacy laws and will not be releasing information that infringes on privacy rights. In fact, some requests from the community for data are not actionable due to privacy restrictions. |
| Are there differences in browser views of the website? |
| There are variations among the different browsers in use today and they are constantly changing so you may encounter some unexpected results. If you do encounter something unexpected, please contact the team. |
| Who do I contact when I have questions about the data? |
| Please feel free to contact the Open Data Team via email. |
Accessing Our Open Data
There are several ways to access the City's open data. The data can be downloaded as shapefiles or KML for GIS applications, and as CSV for tables and spreadsheets. Advanced users may also integrate our data into other applications. Learn more about using this data portal.
- Local Government
- Results of the 2014 municipal election
- Base Maps
- Datasets include addresses, parcel fabric, ward boundaries, etc.
- Parks & Recreation
- View data sets on parks, trails, sports fields, rinks, playgrounds & recreation facilities
- Transportation
- Data sets for City-owned parking lots, information on transit routes, transit stops & transit schedules
- Environment
- View Waste & recycling curbside collection
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