About us
The Open Data Division is responsible for facilitating the flow of information between departments within the City of Laredo, and out to the general public. We are also responsible for improving processes through technology when possible.
Open Data Team
acastaneda@ci.laredo.tx.us
956.727.6536
Andres Castaneda
Chief Data Officer
Open Data Division Manager
About Andres
As the City's first Chief Data Officer, Andres is tasked with creating data standards, policies and publishing the Open Data Portal for the City. As CDO he also heads the Open Data Committee which is comprised of various data coordinators within various city departments. As a committee they decide on the datasets to be published through the open data portal. Andres is also responsible for providing data and analysis to administration for better informed decision making.
hgarcia1@ci.laredo.tx.us
956.727.6400
Homero Vasquez-Garcia
Director of Information Services and Telecommunication Department
About Homero
As Director of IST, Homero directly oversees the Open Data Division. He is one of the core members of the Open Data Committee. As director of IST, he is also responsible for sound decision-making when it comes to the implementation of new methods and softwares throughout the City.
Data Coordinators
Various City Departments
About Data Coordinators
Data Coordinators facilitate the flow of information from the Department level to the CDO. They are responsible for communications within a department, data collections and submittal. They also form the Open Data Committee which in various combinations define policy and select datasets for publication.
Commonly asked questions
Who decides on what datasets to share?
The decision is made primarily by the Chief Data Officer, with the consultation of the Open Data Committee. Suggestions for datasets may come from data coordinators, or, in the future, public requests. Some of the original datasets will also be selected using frequency of Open Records Requests.
What format will the datasets be provided?
This is dependent on the data itself. Most data will be available in csv or excel spreadsheets. Data with geo-locations will be presented in shapefile or kmz format. Some of the aggregate data, reports or listings may be provided in pdf format.
When will more data be added?
Datasets will be added as they become available. Depending on the department and existing data format, some data may take longer to make available. We will try to upload new data and make it available on a weekly schedule.
How current is the data being shared?
This depends on the data and the department sharing the data. Some datasets will be updated daily, others will be updated monthly, quaterly or annually. The version on the portal should be the most current dataset available.
What about confidentiality?
Some data sets may have information that can be sensitive to privacy or security issues. This data will be presented as de-identifiable data. All data sets will also be reviewed by our legal department to verify compliance with any statutes requiring security protocols.
What about data from other entities?
For the time being, this portal will be used for only City of Laredo data. In the future, we would like to extend our reach to various other governmental or regulatory agencies. We will try to provide as much information as we possibly can.