What are we doing?
The Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC) was created in 2015 in a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Urban and Social Research, Allegheny County, and the City of Pittsburgh. The WPRDC, hosts datasets from public sector agencies, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations from Western Pennsylvania. Its goal is to make public information easier to find and use and to promote government transparency while providing the infrastructure for data sharing.

What have we learned?
The WPRDC currently offers over 140 data sets available for the public to download. The information available in the data sets enables students, researchers, civil servants, and anyone interested in public data to access it and download it for informational purposes. 311 data is updated hourly to provide accurate information about resident’s needs and service requests. Other popular datasets include information about Pittsburgh Bridges, Pittsburgh Police Incident Blotter, and Pittsburgh PLI Violations Report. On October 13, 2016 Pittsburgh joined the White House led Police Data Initiative.
Visit Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center

What are we doing?
Students for Urban Data Systems (SUDS) is a Carnegie Mellon University led student group working on engaging the Pittsburgh community to use open data to understand the city and the region where we live. SUDS reaches out to the general public through open data and technology events.

What have we learned?
Since January 21, 2016, SUDS’ website has been viewed over 1,300 times from 1,000 unique visitors. The students organized 18 events in 2015-2016, and on average 34 people attended these events. SUDS' citizen engagement is both measured in the number of attendees and the number of people they engage through their social platforms. SUDS’ twitter reaches 242 people.

Visit SUDS to Join!

What are we doing?
The City of Pittsburgh is committed to provide government transparency to the people by promoting open data and free access to city information. The city is working on instituting a public performance dashboard to promote transparency and show improvement of the city’s departmental operations in real time.

What are we doing?
The Department of Public Works is currently doing an inventory of all city assets including: buildings, pools, guide rails, courts, sidewalks, signal lights, water features, component facility assets, and roads among others. This inventory will determine the conditions of these assets so that the city can better plan necessary improvement and replacement.

What have we learned?
25 asset lists are currently documented in the City's asset management database, Cartegraph. The goal is to continue to expand this list and to increase the use of database systems across departments in order to better understand asset repairs and preventative maintenance.

What are we doing?
The Pittsburgh 311 call center helps residents with non-emergency City of Pittsburgh concerns or questions. Pittsburgh residents can reach the 311 center through its direct phone line and get assistance from one of 311 operators. Residents can leave voice/text messages, through the Teletypewriter(TTY) Line, and through its Twitter account at @311pgh. The Pittsburgh 311 twitter reaches as many as 7,338 followers and has been successful and quickly disseminating public announcements, as well as intake service requests. 311 Pittsburgh is working on creating a coordinated measure to disseminate information along with other departments via the city website and social media channels.

What have we learned?
The city 311 Call center has posted over 10,142 tweets within the past year. January is the month with the highest number of tweets and citizen engagement through Twitter.

What are we doing?
The 311 call center cooperates with other service call centers like 211 in order to better serve the public and direct them to the right resources. Through cooperation and partnerships with the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority and the Parking Authority in software capabilities, the authorities and the city can have synchronized access to information. In addition, the 311 call center seats on the advisory board for 211 in order to closely support its initiatives and operations.

What are we doing?
MyBurgh is a new city application that enables easy access to connect to 311 via phone or a mobile application. This application shows social media feeds with service or request announcements. The application was built with a user friendly platform that encourages self-service for a faster more personable experience.

What have we learned?
Number of downloads, Number of requests/traffic from application
Download My Burgh!

What are we doing?
In an effort to bring government to the people and promote transparency the city of Pittsburgh is currently holding city statistics and performance meetings in order to analyze data and implement departmental performance indicators. 311 data is currently publicly available through the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC).

What have we learned?
311 data sets are updated hourly to reflect new information about service requests, citizen engagement, and the city's effort to address the concerns of Pittsburgh residents.

Visit Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center