One of the City-Parish’s top priorities is a focus on transparency in government to spur greater performance, data-driven decision making, and citizen engagement. This priority is advanced in several distinct ways, powered by a robust open data program in Open Data BR that has received national acclaim for the manner in which a mid-sized community has approached the concept of open data and how it can be utilized to drive more efficient, effective, and transparency service delivery to residents. Over the past few years, Baton Rouge has occupied a Top 10 ranking within the U.S. Open Data Census alongside cities such as Las Vegas, Austin, Los Angeles, New York City, and more, recognizing these advancements and our growing inventory of publicly available datasets.

Since the platform’s launch in 2015 and as of early 2018, Open Data BR has expanded to feature 29 high-value datasets with more than 15.7 million total rows of data and dozens of other filtered views, charts, and datasets. The presence of Open Data BR has been further augmented by the development of companion web applications such as Open Neighborhood BR, a first-of-its-kind web application that helps residents easily understand activities taking place on their block or in their neighborhood, ranging from crime and fire incidents to building permit activity and 311 service-related issues. Externally, key users have leveraged these data to track and analyze land development activities, develop crime-related applications for public download and use, and develop maps outlining criminal activity within organized crime prevention districts.