Town of Cary Passes Open Data Resolution

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Open Data as a Regional Collaboration

Yesterday evening Triangle just got its next open data participant. The Town of Cary. I lived in Cary for over a decade and now live next door in Morrisville. I work for the City of Raleigh on its open data initiative.

I take a regional collaborative philosophy of open data initiatives and municipalities. Cary, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill all share the economic engine that is the Research Triangle Park. We also share the collective generated innovation engine of five top universities scattered among the cities of the Triangle.

Will Cary seek to be an interoperable player in a Triangle-wide federated regional model?

At this time it is hard to tell. The local CfA brigade in Cary sees local transparency as the primary goal of the Cary open data initiative. The Town of Cary has been quiet in discussing any long range strategy or vision for open data from a government perspective.

Here is the resolution as passed:

A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE CARY OPEN DATA DAY HACKATHON
ON FEBRUARY 23, 2013
WHEREAS, the Town of Cary is committed to open government and using
technology to foster open, transparent and accessible government by making
public data accessible and fostering and encouraging civic engagement.

WHEREAS, “Open Data” refers to data generated by public sector entities that is
legally accessible and available electronically to the public for their use.

WHEREAS, the Technology Task Force, a group of nine citizen thought leaders
in the technology area, recommended the adoption of an Open Data and Public
API policy as critical to support the Cary community as a Technology Hub.

WHEREAS, municipalities across the United States have an opportunity to
dramatically lower their costs by collectively sharing and supporting software they
use and create.

WHEREAS, by sharing Open Data, the Town of Cary seeks to develop
opportunities for economic development, commerce, increased investment and
civic engagement.

WHEREAS, the adoption of open source standards, which provides an interface
between the data and the user, improves transparency, access to public
information, and coordination and efficiencies among organizations across the
public, non-profit and private sectors. Additionally, open source standards
harness the power of distributed peer review and transparency to create highquality,
secure and easily integrated software at an accelerated pace and a lower
cost.

WHEREAS, the Town of Cary encourages the local software community to
develop software applications and tools to collect, organize and share public data
in new and innovative ways that benefit citizens and government.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE
TOWN OF CARY:

The Town of Cary joins other communities throughout the United States and
declares Saturday, February 23rd, 2013, as Open Data Day. At this event, the
Town proudly supports a community Hackathon by providing an open data
website through a single web portal at http://data.caryNC.gov, which will be
available prior to Cary’s Open Data Day Hackathon. This web portal will serve as
an open data catalog for the Town’s available data sets.

RESOLVED this 13th day of February, 2013.

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