U.S. Cities Make Their Data Free

"A big pile of city crime reports is not all that useful. But what if you could combine that data with information on bars, sidewalks and subway stations to find the safest route home after a night out? In Washington, a Web site called Stumble Safely makes that possible...

A Web site called CleanScores tracks restaurant inspection scores in various cities and explains each violation...

San Francisco recently unveiled DataSF, a Web clearinghouse of raw government data that the public can download. The data sets include seismic hazard zones, street sweeping schedules and campaign finance filings. New York City’s Data Mine includes directories of sidewalk cafes, property values, horseback riding trails and historic houses."

There's more about how some U.S. cities are making their data freely available in this NYT article. HT: Michael Terbush.