Sacramento, Calif., – The Center for Digital Government (CDG) announced the winners of the 2018 Digital Cities Survey on November 2, 2018. Now in its 18th year, the annual survey recognizes cities using technology to tackle social challenges, enhance cybersecurity, improve transparency and much more. The City of Los Angeles was named #1 among cities with 500,000 or more residents for the third year in a row!
“This year’s Digital Cities Survey winners are leading the nation when it comes to leveraging data to improve a wide range of city services and initiatives,” said Teri Takai, executive director of the Center for Digital Government. “Thanks to the efforts of these innovative cities, citizens now benefit from enhanced services as well as improved transparency and privacy protection efforts. Congratulations to the winners!”
Among the initiatives the center highlighted were;
- LA Open Data - The city’s Open Data platform has 1,100 datasets, with 100 percent of departments contributing. "We are sharing city data with the public to increase transparency, accountability and customer service and to empower companies, individuals and non-profit organizations with the ability to harness a vast array of useful information to improve life in our city" said Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles
- LA Cyber Lab - Launched in August 2017, the continually expanding LA Cyber Lab effort makes the city’s cyberthreat intelligence available to local businesses — for free. “This gets to the heart of what government is, taking this internal asset and sharing it out in support of the business community,” said Ted Ross, Chief Information Officer of Los Angeles.
- OurCycle LA - The city's IT department has also partnered with human-I-T, a nonprofit, to refurbish discarded city computers and give them away to those in need. The city has given away more than 3,250 machines in the past year and a half. “It’s a great example of government taking an asset, bringing in a nonprofit and then distributing it back into the community,” Ross said.
- Clean Streets Initiative - The city’s Clean Streets initiative, a program of the collaborative Comprehensive Homeless Strategy, is powered by data from the 311 Call Center and mobile app, and responses are managed and services dispatched through the customer relationship management system.
- The Data Science Federation - Reinforcing the city's dedication to data is its Data Science Federation, a partnership between city departments and 18 local universities, engaging hundreds of
faculty and students to tackle a wide variety of analytic challenges, including predictive tools aimed at the city's housing problem. The city also uses data
analytics to identify at-risk individuals before they become homeless and get them additional services. - Dedication to Wireless - Los Angeles also sees wireless as the future and is committed to replacing most of its wired infrastructure with wireless. Investments in mobile technology prove that the city is dedicated to providing all of its citizen services anytime and anywhere on a mobile device. Additionally, the city has provided free Wi-Fi in homeless areas.
- Commitment to Security - To reduce its risk as a connected community, the city has implemented a robust cybersecurity framework, which includes an event management system that can monitor 1 billion data records daily from a single platform. The city's overall security program has been nationally recognized for its exceptional protection of city data, certainly one of its most valuable assets.
- Third-party support - Other examples of innovation include third-party data sharing to increase the range and variety of residents services, and the leveraging of emerging tech like chatbots and artificially intelligent voice assistants such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Home as well as using social media like @LACity on twitter to better assist citizens.
For more information on the survey and a full list of winners please visit http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/Digital-Cities-2018.html
About the Center for Digital Government:
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute focused on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government. CDG is a division of e.Republic, the nation’s only media and research company focused exclusively on state and local government and education.