Mayor Executive Directive No. 3 – Open Data

To promote transparency and accountability, the Cit y 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.

Open Data empowers Angelenos to participate in governance with greater understanding and impact. Opening government data t o entrepreneurs and businesses promotes innovation by putting that information to work in ways outside the expertise of government institutions and gives companies, indivi duals, and nonprofit organizations the opportunity to leverage one of government’s greatest assets: public information. Most significantly, it fosters creative new thinking about solving our most intractable challenges through public-private partnerships and promoting a culture of data sharing between our own City departments and other civic re sources.

Open data and analysis has already been the hallmark of the successful application of COMPSTAT in the Los Angeles Police Department, spur ring innovation and producing dramatic and tangible reductions in crime each year for the past decade.