Open Data Informatics Strategies

Matt Roberts and Cristal SimmonsNovember 2, 2015

• Open source—something publicly available, free• Open data—the idea that certain data should be freely

available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions

• Transparency leads to effectiveness

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

200400600800

100012001400160018002000

328524

1887

17948

Health FOIA Requests source: City of Chicago Open Data Portal• Help free up resources,

reduce FOIA requests• Expresses public value• Spur innovation• Puts data in the hands

of the public

Many were for food and environmentalInspections, both of which are now on theOpen Data Portal

Open Data

http://digital.cityofchicago.org/index.php/open-data-applications/

1. Public accessibility2. Availability in multiple formats3. Free of charge4. Unlimited use and distribution rights

Criteria

1. Tabulara) Tables; CDC Wonder; iQueryb) Good for releasing summary informationc) Cell size may be supressed

2. Record level dataa) Example: research-oriented cancer public filesb) Good for analytical and research usec) Record uniqueness may be supressed

Types

https://www.data.gov/blog/open-data-history

Timeline

Open Data PortalsSpur Innovation

Our Data PortalSpurs Innovation too

Apps from Open Data

Chicago Health Atlas

• Restaurant inspection predictive analytics actively operates off of data from the Chicago Open Data portal– Predicts restaurants most likely to have serious or

critical health code violations– Allows inspectors to prioritize those restaurants,

helping remediate potential problems faster’

Predictive Analytics

• This is the latest turn in the open data movement, suggesting all [releasable] government data should be released

• Even if we don’t think it’s that valuable to release, others might– “One man’s garbage [data] is another man’s gold[en data]”– E.g. Snowplow tracking; NYS nursing home beds//Irene

• Timely and consistent publication of public information and data is an essential component of an open and effective government

“Open by Default”

Predecessor systems (click buttons and get

an Excel file)Open Data Platforms API formats, auto-

linking databases

• Data.cityofchicago.org (37 of 500 are CDPH)• Food and environmental inspections (“real time”)• Dozens of other health datasets

• metrochicagodata.org• Data.illinois.gov

• Some IDPH data is fed from IDPH’s iQuery system• Data.gov (2,018 health datasets Total) and Data.cdc.gov

Data Platforms

Dataset Number of Views

IDPH Assisted Living Establishments 20,880

Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory 62,439

IDPH Home Health Agencies 27,723

At one point 8 out of every 10 Data.illinois.gov hits were for health data

Illinois Datasets

Dataset Number of Views

Nonfiction book rentals from the Public Libraries 993

Potholes patched—last 7 days 60,936

Community Health Centers, has been “live” for 1 month 86

Building Permits 149,694

Food Inspections 84,956

STI Specialty Clinics 12,452

Public Health statistics, underlying causes of death 2005-09 5,578

Police Stations 111,047

Towed vehicles 16,402

Chicago (as of late July 2014)

• SharePoint List used to manage our data release:

• CDPH Dataset Release Procedure/Policy

• Include steps to protect PHI

• Start small, but think granular

Carrying it out

/ChicagoPublicHealth

HealthyChicago@CityofChicago.org

@ChiPublicHealth

www.CityofChicago.org/Health