The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is committed to communicating with the American people in plain, easy-to-follow language. We understand that people cannot comply with a safety bulletin that is too dense and technical to understand, or offer comments on a proposed regulation that is written with too much jargon for a layman to follow.
Access to DOT data provides opportunities for consumers to conduct valuable research and analyses, combine data layers into new and interesting “mashups” of DOT and non-DOT data, and build novel applications, services, or derivative information products. Increased visibility and use of DOT data will result in increased citation, innovation and new research ideas. It will also lend greater credibility to scientific, engineering, and policy-making communities across a broad spectrum of the public and private sectors.
Section 2 provides information about the structure and content of Data.gov as they relate to the DOT. Section 3 outlines an interim publishing process and provides guidelines and resource links to assist DOT program managers and data access coordinators to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and prepare datasets and tools for inclusion in Data.gov. The evaluation questionnaire is contained in Appendix A.
XML files of currently releases Department of Transportation (DOT) data sets.
At the Department of Transportation, we have a long-standing commitment to using plain language, and we see plain writing as an integral part of achieving the goals of our Open Government Plan.
A collection of news, announcements and events about DOT's Open Government Initiative.
The President’s Open Government initiative represents a significant shift in the way Federal agencies conduct business and engage the public. The DOT recognizes that the Open Government initiative is about more than adopting new tools and emerging technologies—it is about affecting real policy and internal culture change to ensure that our Department truly becomes even more transparent, participatory, and collaborative both internally and externally. Toward that end, our DOT Open Government Plan looks at the culture, policy and technology issues involved in enhancing the DOT’s openness.
IdeaHub is an online community that facilitates innovation and collaboration within the DOT and the Operating Administrations (OAs). It’s designed to bring comprehensive, cultural change to the DOT through the use of a collaborative website. IdeaHub is more than a suggestion box. Through this exciting online community, you and your colleagues will be able to submit, comment on, improve, and rate each other’s ideas. No idea is too big or too small.
As President Obama today signs the Open Government Partnership declaration, DOT is proud to highlight some of the ways that we have advanced America’s domestic open government agenda and created a more efficient and effective government through greater transparency, participation, and collaboration.
Over the past year, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has laid the foundation for making high-value data more readily available by leveraging Data.gov. Making data more available is not a simple process. It requires coordination from all levels of the Department to ensure that security, privacy and confidentially are all protected. DOT has worked diligently to lay the policy and guidance framework to make this happen over the last year.
The U.S. DOT thus decided to use a relatively novel method, a prize, to undertake a new program to develop new applications, devices, products, business solutions, and a range of services that improve transportation’s role in safety and quality of life. The DOT believes that there are new approaches, partnerships and devices for using DSRC that innovators among the broader public can and will devise, if they are called to participate. In this spirit, on January 24, 2011, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) launched a challenge on challenge.gov called the “Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge”. The idea submission portion of the challenge will end on May 1, 2011.
