City of Syracuse to Host Open Data Day 2024

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh announced Syracuse Open Data Day 2024 will be held at the Onondaga County Public Library Central Library, 447 S. Salina St., from 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 2. The event provides a unique opportunity to explore the City’s Open Data Portal, engage with industry-standard tools for accessing and visualizing open data, collaborate on projects, and compete in a data challenge for a first-place prize of $1,000 supported by an event sponsor.

The 2024 challenge theme is “Healthy Housing: Quality, Safety & Accessibility.” Participants will have the chance to create projects that address critical housing issues in Syracuse using real-world data from both internal and external sources. Participants will have access to various datasets, including Syracuse’s Rental Registry, Code Violations, Vacant Properties, and more. External resources such as the NYS Unified Court System’s Statewide Landlord Tenant Eviction Dashboard and CNY Vitals Pro are also available.

Teams participating in the challenge must incorporate at least one dataset from the Open Data Syracuse platform and are encouraged to combine it with other data sources. Projects will be evaluated on four criteria: creativity and “wow” factor, execution, informational value, and multidisciplinary nature of the project. Submissions must be uploaded to the Open Data Syracuse DevPost site by Saturday, November 2 at 1:45 p.m.

The free event will include presentations, breakout sessions and development sessions for participants to work on their datasets. Attendees may participate in any or all sessions. Interested participants can go to the City’s Meetup page to register.

Refer to https://data.syr.gov for a full schedule, and other updates and announcements.