BALTIMORE, MD (Monday, January 4, 2021) — Under the leadership of Mayor Brandon M. Scott, Baltimore City Information Technology (BCIT) is relaunching the Open Data Baltimore Hub. 

This resource houses hundreds of government datasets, regularly updated by City agencies for greater transparency, accountability and access. The Open Data Baltimore Hub allows people to interact with data, download data files, analyze and visualize data with tools, and build apps. 

“The Open Data Baltimore Hub is a powerful tool for transparency and accountability within our city government,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “It is our duty to ensure that city government works for our residents. I encourage Baltimoreans to take advantage of this tool to keep track of the ins and outs of the city and explore the new features as we work together to build a more open and accountable city.”

The new Open Data Baltimore will make it more clear what data is being provided by City agencies, as opposed to the public. The updated hub was migrated from an old system to one provided by Esri, which allows for the creation of story maps and dashboards to contextualize data for members of the public.

The updates from the Data Hub stem from the 2011 launch of Open Baltimore, an initiative designed to make more data from city government agencies publicly available. In 2016, then-Councilmember Scott introduced and passed legislation that created an open data policy in Baltimore, requiring the regular release of crime statistics, salary information, and other data.

“The updated open data portal reflects Baltimore City’s commitment to data and transparency,” said Todd Carter, Chief Information Officer for Baltimore City and Director of BCIT. “We trust that this update will assist other organizations and communities that also use the datasets. Open Baltimore is shaped for government and the community to use the technology to promote transparency, improve performance and enhance citizen engagement.” 

People are encouraged to note that with the update, the data.baltimorecity.gov URL will remain the same, but the backend and APIs are different, requiring sites and organizations that pull data from the city’s open data site to reestablish those links.