Civic News

Open Data Policy for Maryland signed into law

It is now official state policy that state government data "be machine-readable and released to the public in ways that make the data easy to find, accessible and usable."

State Sen. Bill Ferguson during a campaign kickoff event at the Creative Alliance in January 2014. (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Taylor Photography)

As of today, all state government data in Maryland must be public and machine-readable — easily parsed into spreadsheet format, or something other than a PDF.
Signed into law at the close of the 2014 session of the Maryland General Assembly was the state senate’s version of an Open Data Policy that stands to be the “first formalized step towards an open data regime,” as state Sen. Bill Ferguson, who introduced the Open Data Policy, told Technical.ly Baltimore in January.
Read Technical.ly Baltimore’s Q&A with Ferguson.
While only a step in the right direction, the Open Data Policy has been championed by open data advocates in the state and is a measure that was sorely needed. In 2013, Maryland was ranked 46th in the U.S. when it came to public access to information.
Included in the Open Data Policy legislation is a provision for a Council on Open Data, which is the 37-member group given the task of promoting that state government data “be machine-readable and released to the public in ways that make the data easy to find, accessible and usable, including through the use of open data portals.” Maryland launched its statewide open data portal in May 2013.
Read the text of the Open Data Policy

Companies: Maryland General Assembly / State of Maryland

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

What actually is the 'creator economy'? Here's why we should care

Skills, not schools: A new path for government tech

Meet Baltimore's winners in the 2024 Technical.ly Awards

Techstars lets early-stage startups show off in Baltimore

Technically Media