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Digital Government Strategy

Public Engagement

Engagement is a core value at DOT and is integral in our decision-making process. The Department has hosted 170 roundtable sessions throughout the country over the last year. In September 2011, DOT hosted a Public Meeting to discuss how to connect public and private organizations through a Digital Transportation Exchange designed to find innovative ways to better serve the public. In addition, with the launch of Safety.Data.gov, we played a leading role in a White House session to identify potential apps and data needs relating to Safety. The event included a Data Jam to select apps for development and to form teams to identify necessary steps.

Finally, in July 2010, President Obama signed into law P.L. 112-141, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). This legislation will transform the policy and programmatic framework for investments to guide system growth and development.  We have created dialogues with the public around the new legislation through five webinars. We are hosting additional sessions over the next couple of weeks. 

Our engagement efforts have identified clear themes and areas for improved collaboration and data transparency. DOT’s number one priority is safety. Safety has also emerged as the most important issue for many of our stakeholders.  Therefore, we have chosen to prioritize safety apps and APIs such as:

  • car safety information;
  • rail injury reports; and
  • information on railroad crossings.

In addition to in-person engagement methods, DOT has established an email address, opendata@dot.gov, to receive feedback from data users. We are also establishing a listserv for developers and data users to announcements about open data at DOT.  You are invited to provide comments and suggestions to opendata@dot.gov.