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Mayor Garcetti unveils open data website for City of Los Angeles

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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the launch of data.lacity.org, an open resource offering access to data collected by the City of L.A., at a conference today hosted at City Hall called #techLA.

RELATED: LA hopes 'Hacktivists' will turn city data into user-friendly apps 

The website currently offers more than 100 data sets, and it's available to everyone. 

"Angelenos deserve transparency and accountability, and an open view of government," said Mayor Garcetti, at the inaugural meeting of Mayor's Council on Technology & Innovation. "Our new Open Data portal gives residents access to the same information as their elected officials. With this new tool, academics, developers, journalists, and anyone with an interest in Los Angeles can access a one-stop treasure trove of information that was previously scattered across city websites if it was available at all."

Back in December 2013, Garcetti announced the launch of this program:
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"To promote transparency and accountability, the City of Los Angeles (“City”) will make publicly available raw data in easy-to-find and accessible formats.  Open Data is raw data generated or collected by government agencies made freely available for use by the public, subject only to valid privacy, confidentiality, security, and other legal restrictions."

The #techLA conference, which received more than 1500 RSVPs online, also hosted a tech jobs fair, a technology product expo, and panel discussions on civic innovation and technology with members of LA's tech community.

The new site isn't the first project the City of L.A. has undertaken in his effort to increase government transparency. In 2013, L.A. City Controller Rob Galperin released Control Panel LA, which allows users to search data on city spending and salaries. 

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