As part of the City of Ottawa's commitment to improving citizen engagement and enhancing transparency and accountability to its residents, the City is joining other government organizations within Canada and around the world by providing public access to its data.

The Open Data Ottawa site is a first step in creating a foundation that encourages digital innovation, improved service delivery, stimulation of economic growth, and a better understanding of our city. Entrepreneurs, academics, policy-makers and community organizations are just a few of the groups that will benefit from the available information.

This initial release of data focuses primarily on geospatial data. Over time, the site will include more varied sets of data in more formats. Through user feedback and consultations planned in the coming months, Open Data Ottawa will continue to evolve as we gain insight into where to focus our data liberation efforts!

The Cities of Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver have recently joined forces to collaborate on an "Open Data Framework". The project aims to enhance current open data initiatives in the areas of data standards, terms of use agreements and open data website design. For further information, please contact us at opendata@ottawa.ca.