Government transparency + citizen empowerment — that’s what city leaders hope their new, public-facing open data site offers.
Officials updated Chattadata.org last month + we recently spoke with Tim Moreland, who heads up the city’s Office of Performance Management and Open Data, to get some insight into the information + navigation tips for delving into the data.
📊 What can I find on Chattadata?
This is a snapshot of the Chattadata site. There’s more to explore.
- Police incident + 311 call data; find out what kinds of calls are made in specific areas of town
- Length of the average traffic jam
- Business permit information; who has a business license + where
- City budget breakdowns; explore budget priorities + budgets by department
- Bike Chattanooga + Chattanooga Marathon details
- Progress on the mayor’s designated priority areas
📊 Quick tips
- If you aren’t sure where to start, go to the City Insider section. This is where you can enter an address and see what 911 + 311 calls have been made in that area. On this page, make sure you click “police incidents” and/or “311 incidents” on the left side. Otherwise, the map may look blank.
- After you find a data set, you can create charts to visualize the data. Click “visualize data,” but ignore the prompt to sign in, unless you want to create an account and set up alerts.
- Read more about the site here.
📊 Fast facts
- Numbers on the site are updated nightly
- Under the “performance” tab, you’ll see notations such as “near target” or “on track.” These note progress made in areas Mayor Andy Berke has designated as priorities. If it simply says “measuring,” it means city officials are assessing that area but don’t have a specific target in mind.
- City officials offer training on how to navigate the site. For example, neighborhood groups that want to use this data may want to get more in-depth training.
📊 Transparency + empowerment
Quoteworthy:
“The open data site is meant to provide transparency into city government and how operations work. We hope that it can be an empowering tool for citizens and the community. That whole “knowledge is powerful” thing is very true. We hope this makes it easy to understand what’s happening in your community.” – Tim Moreland, Office of Performance Management and Open Data
