San Francisco Showcases Free Applications That Use City Data

September 25, 2009 By Karen Stewartson

San Francisco today announced the launch of DataSF Apps Showcase, a site that boasts free innovative applications created by citizens using city and county data.

"We are trying to turn San Francisco's government into an organizing platform for civic engagement by giving our residents the tools to build the kind of government that works for them," said Mayor Gavin Newsom in a press release. "This is just the beginning. We hope creative developers will build countless more apps never dreamed of in City Hall."

In August, San Francisco launched DataSF.org -- a clearing-house of data sets available from the city and county -- which aims to help the community create innovative applications. At that time, city CIO Chris Vein told Government Technology the vision of the site.

"What we're thinking about doing is having an 'apps store,' if we can legally do this. It would be showing on the portal Web site those solutions that are created, and highlighting the names and the work of the people that did it."

Today the city reached that goal with the launch of DataSF Apps Showcase. The site features 10 applications, such as CleanScores, which lists health inspection scores of city restaurants and EcoFinder, which tells users how and where to dispose of recyclables.

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