Aquifers Feed Community Development Beyond the Garden Healthy civic engagement is often based around an emergent collective influence, a momentum from the coalescence of many individuals’ activity. As developers of civic software this is a concept we think of often and try to embrace, especially within the context of a dense urban environment. Such environments Continue reading
I’ve been having some discussions with people at the Chicago Open Government group, talking about data openness. One common complaint all around is about data exported as PDFs. The particular topic we were discussing was TIFs. TIFs (Tax Increment Financing) are something a city can use to try to improve a neighborhood, and fund the Continue reading
New York City recently launched CityMap2.0, an application "bursting with souped-up mapping features." The map offers plenty of helpful city data, from Federal Stimulus projects to service centers of all types. An article in Government Technology explains: "It’s one of our most heavily used applications. We got a lot of requests for enhancements," said Colin Continue reading
Here at TOPP I’ve been working on ways to better present and manipulate New York City bus scheduling data. Google Transit has the MTA’s bus timing data so that they can do trip planning. But the MTA for some reason won’t let them release it. I filed a FOIL request with the MTA for that Continue reading
Livable Streets Education’s recent street-painting event is drawing praise in Brooklyn. Reports the Brooklyn Downtown Star: "Paint the Pavement" was a collaborative initiative designed to liven up and designate the school zone outside P.S. 67, across the street from Whitman-Ingersoll, as well as teach students about the community-building power of public art. Dozens of volunteers Continue reading