Boston

Resources for Boston

MetroBoston Data Common, A partnership between the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and the Boston Indicators Project
Boston Indicators - It aims to democratize access to information, foster informed public discourse, track progress on shared civic goals, and report on change in 10 sectors: Civic Vitality, Cultural Life and the Arts, the Economy, Education, the Environment, Health, Housing, Public Safety, Technology, and Transportation.
Metropolitan Area Planning Council

The Mayor’s Office receives service requests from its constituents through a 24-hour hotline and its website. When the City receives these requests, they are immediately sent to the appropriate department for resolution through the Constituent Response Team. The Mayor’s Office will ensure that each request receives a response from the appropriate agency. The City’s GIS DataHub allows constituents to review, chart and map the requests. The resulting datasets are manageable, machine-readable, legible and not sensitive in nature; each night, the data will be updated with the most recent service requests and statuses. It is dynamic and streamlined feature that makes GIS DataHub and Hotline popular in the greater Boston area, in addition to the iPhone application.
“While the Citizens Connect application is available only on the iPhone, the City of Boston will soon launch BetaBoston, a program providing the information needed to make similar applications for any mobile device to the public. BetaBoston will be one of the first programs of its kind in the nation.” (adapted from Mayor Menino Launches City’s First-Ever iPhone Application for Constituent Requests)