State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Turning Dirty Streets Clean through Comprehensive Open Data Mapping

Data-Smart City Solutions: Los Angeles, California’s comprehensive Clean Streets LA (CSLA) initiative is effectively addressing street cleanliness using the power of data and mapping. Through a CSLA initiative called CleanStat, Los Angeles is the first city to map the cleanliness of every one of its blocks. CleanStat data, and an accompanying story map that provides context and explanations, are hosted on the GeoHub, LA’s map-based open data portal, meaning the results of the initiative are easily accessible by residents and other departments. Since launching CleanStat almost a year ago, the city has reduced unclean streets by 82% and somewhat clean streets by 84%. During the last quarter of 2016, unclean streets made up only 1% of the total street segments and 87% of the streets were rated clean.

The data-driven Clean Streets LA initiative exemplifies the benefits of quantifiable service delivery. Los Angeles Sanitation (LASAN) uses the data to identify abandoned waste hotspots and improve deployment of cleanup crews. It is also exploring ways to predict future deployment through forecasting and predictive analytics.

Read article