PUBLIC

SECTOR DIGEST
INTELLIGENCE FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

An Analysis of Municipal Open Data Initiatives in Canada

Report by Public Sector Digest

Partner

77

PUBLIC SECTOR DIGEST WINTER 2015

pen government is quickly becoming a strategic priority of

municipalities across North America as the publics
expectation grows for greater transparency and
accountability in the public sector. Open data is one central
pillar of any open government strategy, but for most
municipalities, it remains the most challenging to address. Open data programs
require at least basic technical skills for proper implementation, as well as some
sort of investment in a technology or program for hosting data. As a result,
open data places a greater demand on the human and financial capacity of
municipal government than most other elements of an open government
strategy.

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

Early wins are required in order to

demonstrate the value of open data and
secure buy-in from council and senior
management.
With limited time and resources, municipalities must strategically develop their open data programs. Early
wins are required in order to demonstrate the value of open data and secure buy-in from council and
senior management. In partnership with Canadas Open Data Exchange (ODX), Public Sector Digest
launched the Open Cities Index to provide municipal governments with a yardstick against which they can
measure their progress in launching and advancing their open data initiatives. The Open Cities Index not
only identifies the precise areas for improvement for each municipalitys open data program, but it also
allows municipalities to track their progress and communicate those results to staff, council, and the public.
The 2015 Open Cities Index Report includes a review of the performance of the top ten cities, as well as an
analysis of the state of municipal open data initiatives across Canada.

The Open Cities Index

The Open Cities Index has been created as a supplementary guide for cities looking to initiate or advance
their open data programs. Until now, Canadas municipalities have lacked a reference point for the
performance of their open data programs. After surveying 34 of Canadas largest cities to determine the
number and quality of municipal data sets available to the public, PSD launched the first iteration of the
Open Cities Index in 2015. The Open Cities Index benchmarks each of its 34 municipalities on 107 variables,
providing a detailed comparison of open data programs across regions and provinces/territories. The Open
Cities Index measures the readiness, implementation, and impact of the participating cities open data
initiatives.
1)

Readiness
To what extent is the municipality ready/capable of fostering positive outcomes through its
open data initiative?

2)

Implementation
To what extent has the city fulfilled its open data goals and ultimately, what data has it posted
online?

3)

Impact
To what extent has the posted information been used, what benefits has the city accrued as a
result of its open data program, and to what extent is the city capable of measuring the
impact?

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

The implementation section of the Index consists of three types of data sets that cities may have made
available to the public: Accountability, Innovation, and Social Policy. The Accountability cluster includes data
sets related to government finance and elections like government budget data and election data. The
Innovation cluster includes data sets related to government operations like traffic volumes and service
requests. Finally, the Social Policy cluster includes data sets related to outcomes for a community like crime
rates and health performance. Across each type of data set, municipalities were scored on five variables:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Is the data available online?

Is the data machine readable?
Is the data available for free?
Is the data up to date?
Or is the data unavailable?

A meaningful and comprehensive open data program will include up to date data sets that are available
online for free in a format that is machine readable, facilitating the analysis and reuse of data by the general
public and developers.

The Top Ten

With open data being a relatively new responsibility for municipal governments, limited progress has been
made in most communities in Canada to launch or advance open data portals or initiatives. The Open Cities
Index Top Ten are trailblazers, working to develop the most efficient and effective open data programs
despite limited resources. These ten cities are starting to see the benefits of making municipal data available
to the public, including not only enhanced transparency and civic engagement, but also the generation of
local economic development as developers use the municipal data to create powerful apps.

Open Cities Index 2015 Top Ten

1) EDMONTON
2) TORONTO
3) SURREY
4) OTTAWA
5) LONDON
6) VANCOUVER
7) CALGARY
8) WINDSOR
9) OAKVILLE
10) MONTREAL

150

100

151

146

131

126

110

110

97

91

85

81

50

Open Cities Index 2015 Top Ten Raw Scores (based on max score of 193)

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

For 2015, the city that emerged at the top of the Open Cities Index was Edmonton, followed by Toronto
and Surrey rounding out the top three. These cities have placed open data at the centre of their strategies
to open up government, while providing the private sector with valuable data for analysis and reuse.
Edmonton received a score of 78% overall for its open data program, with strong performance in the
Readiness category (73%) and with the highest score under the Implementation sub-category of Innovation
(89%). From government spending data to zoning data (GIS), Edmonton has made a wide variety of its data
available to the public online, with most sets being free, up to date, and machine readable.
Similarly, Toronto has made great strides in posting municipal data sets from a wide variety of
departments/operations. With the highest score under the Implementation sub-category of Social Policy
(83%), Toronto is leading the way in making data sets available related to program outcomes in the
community, including health and education performance data.
Leading the pack under the Accountability sub-category of Implementation is the City of Ottawa, scoring
95% and coming in fourth overall in the Open Cities Index for 2015. From budget data to lobbyist
information, Ottawa has made Accountability data sets a priority in its open data program.

Open Cities Index 2015 Top Ten Scores by Category (Accountability, Innovation, and Social Policy are sub-categories
of Implementation)

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

Municipalities are struggling to accurately

measure the impact and outcomes of their
open data programs.

National Trends
It is evident from the results of the 2015 Open Cities Index that most Canadian cities have significant work to
do to advance their open data programs. The overall average score for the 34 participating municipalities
was 25% for 2015. The greatest room for improvement can be seen under the Impact category of the Index
with an overall average score of 29%. Municipalities are struggling to accurately measure the impact and
outcomes of their open data programs. Some cities, however, have reported operational cost savings as a
result of their open data programs. With the public able to access municipal data directly online, some
municipalities have measured significant reductions in requests for information, saving the city time and
money. Others have been able to proactively generate local economic development in their communities
via hackathons. A hackathon, whether organized by the city itself or a community partner, can help to
promote the use of open data for the creation of apps and programs that benefit the community as a
whole, such as a transit tracking app or a participatory budgeting app.
Municipalities fared slightly better under the Implementation category with a national average score of 35%.
The strongest showing was under the sub-category of Accountability (50% national average score), with
more municipalities publishing data relating to government budgets, spending, and elections. As
expectations grow for enhanced transparency and accountability in the public sector, the demand for these
types of data sets will also grow. Social Policy is by far the weakest sub-category with a national average of
21%. These types of data sets can be more difficult to come by, with several levels of government
potentially sharing responsibility for data gathering, for example with health performance being heavily tied
to provincial jurisdictions. Social Policy data sets may also contain more sensitive information about
individuals, requiring more work on the part of the municipality to ensure anonymity where required.
Municipalities performed the best overall under the Readiness category of the Index with a national average
score of 41%. The first step in launching an open data program is to identify a team lead and start building
organizational capacity for program implementation. With many communities across Canada, both large
and small, starting to assign the open data portfolio to a department or team, the readiness of Canadas
cities to tackle open data challenges and opportunities is improving. The Top Ten cities are one step ahead
with many having an open data lead and budgets set aside for technology, training, and even community
outreach.

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

Final Insights
When governments proactively post meaningful data online three things happen. First, efficiencies
externally, internally, and interdepartmentally arise. As open data begins to break down the silos that exist
within government, this improves the effectiveness of city programs, departments, and applications.
Second, new infomediary firms and markets are created once government agencies release information.
With open data released to the market, government bodies will not likely see an immediate direct benefit.
This is a medium to long term strategy that seeks indirect impacts, efficiencies, cost savings, and the tax
revenue that is generated from downstream collaboration.
Finally, those very firms and markets will begin to produce new products and services, helping to solve
essential community problems, all using the data that was posted online. The catch is, when data is posted
online, it must be free, machine readable, and up to date. Without those three attributes, the data cannot
be used to build the most robust applications.
Canadas Top Ten cities in the Open Cities Index have taken the lead in launching open data initiatives
without a proven template or roadmap to follow. These trailblazers will continue to build their open data
programs, experimenting with new processes, technologies, and policies to ensure that the greatest value
for money is achieved, all while continuing to enhance transparency and accountability. Cities just starting
to look at open data as a priority in 2016 can learn from the best practices of the Open Cities Index Top
Ten, applying lessons learned to the unique fiscal and organizational environment of their respective
municipal governments.

OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015

Participating in the Open Cities Index

In 2016, PSD and ODX will work with participating Canadian municipalities and the private sector to improve
the standardization of municipal open data benchmarking, as well as facilitate national discussion around
emerging trends and challenges within municipal open data. PSD has already launched the Open Cities
Index online benchmarking tool that allows municipalities to compare open data initiatives across Canada.
Cities can benchmark their open data programs across categories by region and population. The interactive
tool is designed so that cities can monitor their progress from year to year and identify targeted areas for
improvement.
ODX is especially pleased to partner with the Open Cities Index for the first study of its kind to benchmark
Canadas municipal open data initiatives said Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of ODX, an Open Cities Index
partner. We want municipalities to analyze how they collect and disseminate data, what frameworks to use
and how the cost compares to the potential return. For some, the question will be How can we perform
better than our neighbours? For others it will be simply Where do we begin? The Open Cities Index will
serve to not only bolster the supply of open data, but also assist the entrepreneur and Canadian cities to
qualify and quantify the impact of open data driven products and solutions.
Cities interested in being included in the Open Cities Index and accessing a detailed analysis of municipal
open data programs across Canada can contact PSD for further details.
www.publicsectordigest.com
519.690.2565
Tyler Sutton, Editor & Research Lead
tsutton@publisectordigest.com
John Chiappetta, Open Data Lead
jchiappetta@publicsectordigest.com

Public sector digest

INTELLIGENCE FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR.

2015 The Public Sector Digest Inc.

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OPEN CITIES INDEX REPORT 2015