Residents can access data on city operations, finances with new Open Roseville site

To access public data and records, Roseville residents have had to trudge through the process of submitting public records requests or directly calling city departments to request information. With the launch of the online data portal Open Roseville in February, residents now have easy access to city datasets on topics such as city operations, finances and public safety. Open Roseville can be accessed at www.data.roseville.ca.us. In mid-December, the city of Roseville implemented its Performance Measurement & Key Performance Indicator program as a Smart City initiative to enhance data transparency and provide more up-to-date metrics, according to Hong Sae, Roseville's chief information officer. Overseen by the city's Open Data Committee, multiple departments provided data for the program, Sae said. "The Open Data Platform provides data and insights into our city, creating transparency, accountability and promotes citizen engagement," Sae said. The data catalog on Open Roseville currently contains datasets, charts and maps from several departments within the city, including street maintenance projects, building permits issued, water usage and other important projects, Sae said. Currently there are 54 datasets on the site. Some interesting datasets on the portal include bus ridership numbers, numbers of potholes filled on a monthly basis and gallons of water used daily by residents and the city. There is a link to the most popular datasets on the portal with the most views, such as a catalog of enterprise systems, stale dated checks and the city of Roseville boundary. Courtesy/City of Roseville The platform allows users to download the data as well and create their own visualizations. Sae said the website also offers information on the livability of Roseville and story pages explaining the roles of the departments within the city. These story pages can be accessed on the website by visiting "Data Catalog" and then selecting "Stories" under "View Types." In the future, the city plans on adding Open Budget and Capital Improvement Project components to provide the public with expenditure and revenue financial information and current project status, Sae said. The city worked with Tyler Technologies to create Open Roseville because the company is known for its innovative software and team of professionals specializing in assisting in the creation of open data platforms, Sae said. Tyler Technologies provides public data portals to approximately 100 cities across the U.S., as well as dozens of states and counties, according to Tyler Technologies. Seattle, Washington; Austin, Texas; and Chicago, Illinois use Tyler Technologies for their data portals. Seattle and Chicago launched their data portals in 2010 and Texas launched its portal in 2014. Tyler Technologies' smallest local government client is Loving County, Texas, with a population of 64 per the 2020 U.S. Census. The city of Sacramento also has its own data portal at www.data.cityofsacramento.org, launched in 2013. To suggest a dataset for Open Roseville, email opendata@roseville.ca.us.