San Francisco Sets An Example, Opens City Data For Anyone To Use

SF Mayor Gavin “Handsome” Newsom just announced via Techcrunch that the city will start placing crime, health and other city data online for people to use. What’s it for? Think iPhone apps that show restaurants’ health code ratings, for one.

There are even more possibilities. You can imagine apps taking crime rate statistics and mapping it out, showing users the safest places in the city to live—or even drive through. The more datasets there are (over 100 right now), the more possibilities there are for programs. So we’re all for cities putting their data online for users to freely access. [Techcrunch]