Rock Creek Roundup (June 4 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Jun 03, 2010 0 Comments

The Patent and Trademark Office opens its data to the public via Google, Health and Human Services introduces a new community health initiative, GSA makes it easy for agencies to issue challenges, and the California State Parks’ website gets high marks for usefulness, all in this week’s edition of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—Earlier this week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced that it had come to an agreement with search giant Google to make bulk trademark and patent information free to the public. A variety of information, including trademark and published patent applications, trademark trial details, and patent assignments will be available for the first time in bulk without a fee. The partnership is said to be a “temporary” way that the PTO can move toward meeting the Open Government Directive while its own proprietary database is being created.

—The Department of Health and Human Services is also making strides in its quest to make its data more open and accessible to the public. This week, the department debuted datasets that are part of its Community Health Data Initiative. The datasets are culled from a variety of sources and include information on national, regional, and local health indicators, like smoking and prevalence of heart disease or diabetes. The goal of the datasets’ release is to encourage public and private entities to develop applications that help people and communities better track and take action on health issues affecting them.

—There’s a good chance that you’ve heard of or participated in a conference geared toward gathering ideas and fostering innovation in government—whether it’s Apps for America or the Darpa Red Balloon Challenge, government agencies are tapping the power of the public to generate new ways of doing things. And this week, the General Services Administration announced that they’re going to be making it easier for agencies to roll out their own challenges and solicit public ideas and feedback. Using an online platform powered by marketplace application providers ChallengePost, agencies will be able to easily create their own challenges and receive public input. GSA anticipates that the platform will be available this July.

—Score one for usability and thoroughness. The California State Parks’ website www.findrecreation.parks.ca.gov is lauded as being an excellent example of extensive information combined with easy-to-use features and robust functionality. The site is aimed at helping residents and visitors find parks (including public playgrounds), campgrounds, and trails near a specific location. Visitors can check out park maps in 3D and can even request walking or biking directions. Site developers plan on creating a mobile application for the project so that potential park-goers can use their phone to direct them to the outdoor area they’ve chosen.

Enjoy this post?

Subscribe to the feed

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

• Most Recent
• Topics

View all previous posts