Information Technology Policy Manual 2022

OPEN DATA POLICY

PURPOSE

The purpose of the City of Greensboro’s Open Data Policy is to provide guidelines and to implement best practices for City employees in the distribution of open data and the implementation of open data projects. This policy applies to all City departments, employees, or others working on behalf of the City who are responsible for implementing open data related activities.

DEFINITIONS

Data – A value or set of values that represents a specific concept or concepts. Data becomes information when analyzed and possibly combined with other data in order to extract meaning and provide context. Data Governance Standards – an overarching set of best practices, procedures, and processes that define the vision and daily operation of an open data program, roles and responsibilities of leadership and data coordinators within the program, a method for identifying and prioritizing datasets for publishing and continuous updating, and a means for evaluating success of the open data program for improvement. Metadata – is "data that provides information about other data". Two types of metadata exist: structural metadata and descriptive metadata. Structural metadata is data about the containers of data. Descriptive metadata uses individual instances of application data or the data content. Open Data – Public records as defined by NCGS-132 and provided in a convenient, modifiable form such that there are no unnecessary technological obstacles to the use of the data. For the purposes of this policy, open data is made machine readable via Application Programming Interfaces (API), available in bulk, and provided in an open format such as a .CSV file. Greensboro’s open data is generated and maintained by the City, openly shared, and available to the public in accordance with public records laws. Open Data Leadership Team – as defined by the data governance standards document is an empowered body of people representing the governance committee and shall consist of municipality executive leadership and inclusive of inputs from the public. This body will ensure adherence to the data governance standards established and will serve to modify those standards as necessary to ensure best practices can be achieved in an ever-changing technological or consumer environment. Open Format – means any widely accepted, nonproprietary, platform independent, machine readable method for formatting data that permits automated processing of such data and facilitates search capabilities. Dataset – means a named collection of related records, with the collection containing data organized or formatted in a specific or prescribed way, often in tabular form.

Portal – a means, usually a technology application, for transmitting open data for use, reuse, and

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