IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

The Rise of the Government Chatbot

Plus, Munetrix sues Socrata, FiscalNote buys advocacy-focused firm VoterVoice and more...

TOP NEWS

Rise of the Government Chatbot From North Charleston, S.C., to Los Angeles, here's how government is using chatbots and who's making them.

Munetrix Sues Socrata for Going Back on Agreement The data analytics company Munetrix is taking Socrata to court in Michigan, alleging that Socrata intentionally "screwed" it out of winning a bid.

Virginia Sheriff's Department Tests Smart Bulletproof Vests In Montgomery County, Va., officers are pilot testing bulletproof vests that can automatically send alerts when wearers are injured. The tech comes from Select Engineering Services and DataSoft Corp.

FiscalNote Buys Advocacy-Focused Company in Second Acquisition It's the second time FiscalNote has bought out another company. This time, it's the lobbying and advocacy-focused VoterVoice.

CGI Helps Cities Develop Data Platform for New Air Quality Sensors The consultancy is working with Lafayette, La., and Baltimore to help each city build data capabilities for new air quality sensors meant to bring data collection closer to the neighborhood level.

Auditor: Michigan City Needs $6.4M to Replace 30-Year-Old IBM Systems Traverse City, Mich., has been using the same custom-built system based on IBM computers for more than three decades. Now, a third-party auditor says the city needs to replace them at no small expense.

MARKET SPOTLIGHT

School district data dashboards

 

How School Districts Use Data Dashboards Cities aren't the only ones putting up data dashboards. Survey data from the Center for Digital Education shows that many school districts are as well, and they have a lot of different ways of using them.

WATCHLIST

GovTech companies on our radar this week:

ProoV: A company that aims to streamline the proof-of-concept process for CIOs skeptical of startups' claims, ProoV just raised a

$14 million Series B round.

Run a GovTech company? Get on our radar here.

govtech100-3.jpg

WHAT WE'RE READING

Lack of Broadband Access Is an Urban Problem, Too (FiveThirtyEight)

Town Clerk vs. City Clerk: An Unexpected Journey (ELGL)

How to Create a Map of Travel Times (Isochrones) Using Python (Geoff Boeing)

GovTechBiz is our weekly newsletter covering the companies, deals and trends in the business of gov tech. Got a news tip? Other feedback? We're listening. Send it to GovTechBiz Writer Ben Miller at biz@govtech.com.

Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.