Office of Enterprise Technology Services

Today marks the official launch of Hawaii’s all-new Open Data portal. We’re excited to be taking another step towards improving accountability and the way we deliver key services across the State. As we launch, I’d like to take a moment to talk about what we’re so thrilled about, and what this means for you.

The State of Hawaii has partnered with Socrata to create a powerful Open Data experience that makes it incredibly easy to explore, transform and share data. On our portal, you’ll find a wealth of resources ranging from detailed budget and expenditure data and charts of lobbyist contributions, to maps of public hurricane shelters.

Our vision is to use this platform as a catalyst to address a number of key challenges that the State of Hawaii is committed to solving. I’ve outlined three of them below:

1) Improving Transparency and Accountability

I mentioned before that some of the data we’re making available includes detailed insight into the State budget, expenditures and contributions from lobbyists. We wanted to provide a platform that is accessible to anyone at any location, and do so in an easily navigable, consolidated environment that makes it easy to find state information resources. In doing this, we aim to improve citizens’ understanding of how we apply public resources, with the end goal of holding ourselves more accountable and transparent.

2) Economic Development

Data.Hawaii.Gov places a huge emphasis on economic development and modernizing how key government services are delivered. We want to enable you to see and understand how the economy has changed over time, and why, in order to drive data-driven decisions about how we can stimulate economic growth across the state. Just as importantly, we want to use this portal itself to drive economic growth. Every dataset is API-enabled, allowing developers to easily build powerful applications driven by up-to-date government data. Proud owner of a Chevy Volt or a Nissan Leaf? Our API-enabled public charging stations dataset can be turned into a mobile locator app, showing all of the places where you can get your car charged across the state.

3) Enabling Citizen Participation

Hawaii’s Open Data site also allows State residents to engage with their government, contributing feedback and ideas for how we can improve our Open Data portal. This isn’t the end of the road for our Open Data efforts—we plan to constantly grow and evolve based on citizen feedback, and can’t wait to see your ideas take shape. With that vision in mind, we’re empowering you, the resident, to transform data into unique maps and charts, share contributions on social networks, or embed datasets into your personal blogs.

So, when you have a moment today, I encourage you to explore data.hawaii.gov. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty digging through this data. Find something interesting? Share it and spark a discussion—after all, that’s one of the many things open data is all about.