Mission
Collaborate, compile, and share open data for effective community-based decision making in Detroit.
Purpose
This site was created to address the issue of open data sharing among Detroit's civic tech, data, and mapping community. Numerous individuals and organizations are doing great work with data, but there isn't a place where all can come together to collaborate, share data, and foster transparency together.
Open Data should be:
- as complete as possible
- released in open, machine-readable formats (CSV rocks!)
- have no restrictions, non-discrimination of access
- provided license-free
- given appropriate citation/ attribution
- accessible at no cost
Guidelines for Equitable Open Data in Detroit include the following:
- Protect the people represented by the numbers
- Do not retain personal information tied to accessing City services
- Publish data about all City services, even for privatized “public” services
- Prioritize the release of new datasets based on community interest
- Increase transparency around how data sets are defined and processed
- Engage residents offline about open data
- Give the public a head’s up about plans for new data set releases and portal improvements so that we can be prepared to engage
Read more from the Guidelines for Equitable Open Data
How
Feel free to register, create an account, and upload any Detroit data that you have in CSV, XLS, ZIP, GeoJSON, etc. formats. Contact us if you'd like to add a new organization or become the administrator for an existing one.
Who
This site is maintained by a group of volunteers representing various civic tech and data groups in the City of Detroit. The project host is DETROITography. Data governance and decision-making are lead by a Community Advisory Board.
Current
- Ashley Williams Clark, VP & Director of Center for Equity, Engagement, and Research, Detroit Future City
- Megan Threats, Ph.D., M.S.LIS, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Information and School of Public Health
- Joel Howrani-Heeres, Director of Community Resilience, Public Sector Consultants
- Tommie Obioha, Founder/Director, Detroit Block Works
- Nina Ignaczak, Founder/Publisher/Editor, Planet Detroit
- Gary Ringer, Director of Community Development, Joy Southfield CDC
- Marianne Bracke, Data Librarian, Wayne State University
- Noah Kincade, Field Coordinator, Detroit Documenters
- Jordan Powell, Visualization and Data Analytic Specialist, United Way SEM
- Alex B. Hill, Principal, DETROITography
Disclaimer
DetroitData is an open, online collaborative data portal; a voluntary association of individuals, groups, and organizations working to develop a common data repository for Detroit. Anyone with an internet connection has the ability to contribute to the project. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.
The data here is provided freely and under an open license. It should be understood that no agreement or contract is created between you and the owners or users of this site, the owners of the servers upon which it is housed, the individual contributors, any project administrators, sysops or anyone else who is in any way connected with this project.