Archive for the ‘Data.gov’ Category

U.S. Government Mashups: Apps for America 2 Finalists

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Go forth and be amazed at the great work being done by developers with the help of the Sunlight Labs.

From the Blog Post:

And then there were three! After 47 great entries, we have three finalists in the Apps for America contest, and now it is time for us to figure out the winners. After taking a look at the winners, there’s instructions on how to vote at the end of the post. The finalists are in random order:

+ GovPulse.us

GovPulse is a Federal Register browser…What’s also compelling about it is the visualizations and analysis the software does on top of the register. For instance, check out the agency page to see sparklines of the notices from each agency, or the map of places mentioned by an agency.

+ ThisWeKnow.org

This we know is probably best described as the EveryBlock for federal data. Type in your zip code or city and state, and ThisWeKnow will provide you with details that the federal government has about your community. The depth of information in the site is incredible. You can see the mass exodus occurring in Bellevue, NE or the breakdown of people diagnosed with cancer in Los Angeles.

+ DataMasher

Datamasher allows you to take two different public data sources and mash them up with an operator (+ – * /). Then you can share them with your friends and comment on the mashups of others. A few of my favorite mashups include: High School Graduation vs. Guns in Household, % Total Population in Prison, and my favorite: People per US Representative.

See Also: Review the Winners of Apps for America One

Source: Sunlight Foundation

Posted in Data.gov, Government Documents and Political Information, Technology and Internet | No Comments »

Compilation: Great .Gov Web Sites

Monday, July 27th, 2009

From the Article:

A lot has changed since Government Computer News created its first list of 10 great government Web sites last year. For one thing, social networking has moved into the mainstream, and to maintain a presence in the communities they serve, the smartest agencies have established footholds on Twitter, Facebook and other such sites.

“Agencies are starting to see that government needs to be part of this larger information ecosystem,” said Sheila Campbell, co-chairwoman of the Federal Web Managers Council. “Managing the Web isn’t just managing the Web site. It means putting the content out where people are on the Web.”

Second and perhaps most important, the Obama administration has made government transparency an agenda item and wants agency Web sites to be crucial elements in achieving that goal. “We’re just in the beginning stages of laying a new foundation around transparency, [the results of which] allow the American people to create innovative solutions to some of the toughest problems we face in this country,” said federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.

Direct to Article (10 sites are listed)

Source: GCN

Posted in Data.gov, Government Documents and Political Information, Resources | No Comments »

U.S.: Administration Plans to Expand Online Government Data Site

Friday, June 5th, 2009

From an Article by Aliya Sternstein:

A comprehensive online warehouse of downloadable federal statistics is expected soon to add clickable tags that allow users to search and catalog related content, the White House chief information officer said on Thursday.

“We want to be able to get multiple tagging. We’ve seen in social networking, that’s been extremely useful,” Vivek Kundra said of the features coming in a few months to the next version of Data.gov.

Toward the end of June, Kundra’s office also will unveil a publicly accessible Web application that will quantify the progress of federal IT programs, allowing taxpayers to see whether the projects are on schedule and within budget. “We’re going to power a lot of that through Data.gov,” he said. “The idea is it’s better to create platforms that are horizontal in nature, [but] what I don’t want to do is give the impression that this is all going to happen overnight.”

Source: Next Gov

See Also: White House preparing Data.gov 2.0 (via GCN)

Posted in Data.gov, Government Documents and Political Information | No Comments »

More Files Just Added to Data.gov

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Wow, the datasets continue to pour into the Data.gov repository. Here’s a rundown of today’s new files:

+ Airline On-Time Performance and Causes of Flight Delays
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics

+ USA Spending Contracts and Purchases
Source: GSA

+ USA Spending Grants and Loans
Source: GSA

+ Federal Bureau of Investigation Widget
Source: FBI

+ HHS 2009 Flu Info (Widget)
Source: CDC

+ 2005-2007 American Community Survey Three-Year PUMS Housing File
Source: U.S. Census

+ National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) Snow Water Equivalents
Source: National Weather Service

+ Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) Files, All Data, 2005
Source: Energy Information Administration

+ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey MEPSnet Insurance Component (MEPSnet/IC)
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Source: Data.gov

See Also: Past Lists of “New” Datasets

Posted in Data.gov, Information Industry | No Comments »

USGS and National Park Service Add Content to Data.gov

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

New files on Data.gov today:

+ Landsat Satellite data: land-surface images of the entire Earth, each approximately 100 mi. x 100 mi., from 1972 to the present.

Landsat provides the world’s longest continuously acquired record of global moderate-resolution satellite remote sensing image data of the Earth’s land surface, including coastal areas and islands.

Source: USGS

+ USGS Oil and Gas Assessment Database

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has assessed undiscovered oil and natural gas potential for 212 geological provinces throughout the world as part of the US Oil and Gas Assessment, Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal and World Energy Assessment .

Source: USGS

(more…)

Posted in Data.gov, Databases, Directories, and Guides | No Comments »

More Datasets Added to Data.gov

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Another day means another helping of datasets added to the new Data.gov site.

Here’s what’s new today:

+ Data.gov Catalog
The entire catalog in XML.

+ 2005-2007 American Community Survey Three-Year PUMS Housing File
Source: U.S. Census

+ 2005-2007 American Community Survey Three-Year PUMS Population File
Source: U.S. Census

+ Geospatial display of current weather radar images (RIDGE Weather Radar)
Source: National Weather Service

+ Observed/Forecast River Conditions
Source: National Weather Service

+ Tax Year 1992 Private Foundations Study
Source: Statistics of Income Division, IRS
Note: Datasets for Tax Years 1993-2002 are also available.

+ Tax Year 1992 SOI Exempt Organization Study
Source: Statistics of Income Division, IRS
Note: Datasets for Tax Years 1993-2002 are also available.

Source: Data.gov

See Also: Two New Data Files Appear on Data.gov

See Also: Microsoft, Amazon offer their own repositories for government data (via GCN)

Posted in Data.gov, Databases, Directories, and Guides | No Comments »

Two New Data Files Appear on Data.gov

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Two new files have been added to the new Data.gov warehouse.

+ Patent Grant Bibliographic Data (2009)
Contains the bibliographic text (i.e., front page) of each patent grant issued weekly (Tuesdays) organized by Calendar Year (January through December). Excludes images/drawings.

+ DefenseLINK – Official Web Site of the U.S. Department of Defense
Direct to Defense Dept. Widgets

Source: Data.gov

Posted in Data.gov, Databases, Directories, and Guides | No Comments »