NORFOLK, VA – Sure, you know your Zip Code, and you probably know your trash pickup day. But what about your nearest school or library? Do you know your civic league president and how to reach her or him, or whether you live in an economic development zone?
Click to the Address Information Resource, the newest dataset in NorfolkOpenData, to find all kinds of information about where you live, about your neighborhood, or about any current or pending address in the City of Norfolk. Nearly 100 data points are included for each address: find your polling place, the names of your representatives on City Council, the state legislature and in Congress, along with how to reach them. Civic league presidents, meeting dates, times, location and contact information are a few clicks away. Your trash pick-up day is there, along with recycling pick up information and the street sweeping schedule. Looking for something to do? Find your nearest library, park or recreation center. Worried about the weather? Find flood zone areas and hurricane storm surge zones.
Unlike Norfolk Air, the OpenData portal allows residents to search for information across an entire neighborhood rather than a single address. Want to know every mailing address in your civic league? You can find it on the portal.
“This is value-added information about Norfolk addresses,” said GIS Supervisor Tracy Wamsley. “It identifies all the information that’s associated with an address and puts it in a table.”
This dataset also provides a rich resource for businesses and entrepreneurs. Addresses feature information about economic development zones, “HUB Zones” – historically underutilized business zones, Technology Zones, Tourism Zones, and Opportunity Zones -- a portion of an economically-distressed community where new investments, under certain conditions, may be eligible for preferential tax treatment. Fields include information about zoning districts and land use zones and the approximate acreage for each parcel.
Norfolk launched its OpenData portal in March with four data sets and a commitment to provide data that’s useful to everyone. The city has steadily built its data trove since then, adding information on public safety, neighborhoods, code enforcement, parking, and Recreation, Parks and Open Space among other datasets.
The City of Norfolk will continue to add datasets in 2019 to enhance residents’ ability to find information about the work of the city, to support coordination and efficiency among City departments, and with the hope that these data will serve as a catalyst for innovation by businesses and education institutions.
Each of the data sets can be sorted, filtered and customized – create and save your own searches to keep tabs on your neighborhood. Residents may also view data with charts, graphs and maps. Need help? View one of the easy to use tutorials on the NorfolkOpenData portal.
As always, feel free to view, download and manipulate this data. We provide this data as an affirmation of our commitment to transparency and community collaboration. We hope that you will use this data to improve your community, spark a business idea or just satisfy your curiosity. Data will be updated and expanded often as we work to build a comprehensive open data portal.
For more information on OpenDataNorfolk, call 664-4007 or email opendata@norfolk.gov.