An Australian mashup of census data
In our previous post “An Introduction to Open Data” we introduced the concept of the Open Data movement in all levels of government around the world. The basic idea is that governments are releasing libraries of timely, machine readable, and license-free data for public use. In this followup we’ll be discussing how Open Data could offer new opportunities to those interested in the Real Estate industry.
First off, let’s look at some samples of what data various governments are providing today: Ottawa offers data on several of their recreational resources, including city’s ball diamonds, parks, sledding hills, and wading pools. Toronto has opened information on its apartment standards records, which include “…details of . … orders issued against rental apartment buildings within the last two years.” They also offer address validation, a list of child care centres, neighbourhoods, and places of worship. Vancouver offers recycling & garbage pickup schedules, bikeways, city-wide traffic counts, and lists of business improvement areas, community centres, drinking fountains, libraries, schools, and rapid transit lines. Edmonton, along with several other cities, makes its census information available from several perspectives including per-neighbourhood breakdowns.
When it comes to purchasing property a potential buyer wants access to as much relevant information about their future home as they can find. How is somebody moving to Saskatoon for the first time supposed to know whether the neighbourhoods of Caswell Hill or Willow Grove are the right fit for them? Having the tools to look in to several dimensions of any one community at the tip of their fingers is where Open Data comes in to play. What are the nearby sports leagues, arenas, parks, events or festivals, schools, and other amenities that define the community? Other interesting statistics for a buyer looking at a neighbourhood could include its zoning mix, average age, the single-marriage-divorced breakdown, income and employment rate statistics, job types, education levels, and even information on how people in the area tend to commute to work.
Open Data has the potential to give buyers and their real estate agents new tools to aid in the home buying process. If your local government hasn’t begun talking about Open Data yet we’d encourage you to send them a quick e-mail inquiring about their plans to participate in the movement.
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