When you move into a new home, or change your address, the first wave of mail you receive usually includes offers from internet providers. The choice of providers — if you have the means, or even have the choice to begin with— is an increasingly important one; the internet has become an essential pathway to […]
News
Reflections on the May, 2017 National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership Meeting in Baltimore
by Bob Gradeck
May 25, 2017
Last week, three members of our team (Liz Monk, Steve Saylor, and Bob Gradeck) travelled to Baltimore, Maryland for the Spring, 2017 partner meeting of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP). NNIP is a network of practice for community data intermediaries managed by the Urban Institute. NNIP partners in over 30 cities collect and transform […]
Transportation and Property Data User Group Meeting Recap March 2017
by Bob Gradeck
March 23, 2017
Earlier this month, we held data user group meetings, which brought together many different data users to discuss topics related to transportation, real estate, and housing. We’ve been holding data user group meetings since the launch of the Regional Data Center. These meetings allow data users and data providers to: Build relationships with one another […]
Regional Data Center 2016 Year in Review
by Bob Gradeck
January 12, 2017
On October 15, 2015, we went live with the data portal. This document gives us a chance to reflect back on a busy first year + 2 ½ months. In a followup blog post, we’ll take a look ahead at what to expect in 2017. Open Data Portal Use Use of the open data portal […]
Measuring the Performance of the Regional Data Center
by Bob Gradeck
December 14, 2016
Our goal at the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center is to make community information easier to find and use. While operating the open data portal is at the core of our work, we also are involved in many different activities in our role as a data intermediary. To better understand how we’re doing, we have […]
Guide to Election Results Data in Allegheny County
by Bob Gradeck
November 7, 2016
Election day is today, and if you’re like us, you’re probably going to want to make a map of the results by election district. To do this, you’ll need the data and a map of election districts in Allegheny County. You can find a map of election districts as open data on our Website, but […]
Fall Into Data with Some Great Events
by Bob Gradeck
October 11, 2016
There are many great data-related events on our fall events calendar, including Data Day, our annual celebration of all things data on October 22. We hope to see you often this fall. Data Day Saturday, October 22, 10:30 AM – 3 PM Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Main (Oakland), 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 For […]
Reflections on the September, 2016 National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership Meeting in Cleveland
by Bob Gradeck
September 27, 2016
Here’s my recap of the fall partner meeting of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) in Cleveland. As always, the staff at the Urban Institute and our NNIP partner in Cleveland did a first-rate job in organizing the meeting and providing us with an outstanding experience. Happy Birthday, NNIP Since 2008, We’ve been a member of NNIP. […]
Abstractions Reflections
by Bob Gradeck
August 24, 2016
Last week, we were fortunate to be invited to organize a “Distractions” workshop at the first-ever Abstractions Conference held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Downtown. Abstractions was a cross-disciplinary conference designed to bring together designers, software developers, engineers, and managers, all of whom have key roles in the software development process. Abstractions was organized by […]
Defining Environmental Justice Communities in Allegheny County: Data User Group Meeting Recap
by Bob Gradeck
August 4, 2016
On July 29, we partnered with the Allegheny County Health Department on an event held at their offices in Lawrenceville. We convened over 30 data users to identify indicators that can be used to identify “environmental justice” communities. The Department’s Plan for a Healthier Allegheny calls for targeted and focused strategies and investments to […]