By: Dwight Alexander

The SF Planning Department’s Property Information Map has recently been identified by Harvard’s Ash Center as one of 111 Bright ideas in Government.

The Property Information Map provides real-time data regarding any address in the city, including everything from planning information for a specific site to recent sales prices and permit data. And it gets better. You don’t need a username and password to use this amazing service; anybody can visit the Planning Department website and have immediate access to this wealth of information. In an efficient example of crowdsourcing, the top of the webpage asks for user feedback in bright blue letters with the request, “Tell us what you think of this map.” The map has received other recognition as a winner in the Local Government to Citizen category for Digital Government Achievement.

From the inception of Reset San Francisco, this type of innovation has been part of our ongoing vision for advances in the Gov 2.0 movement. We at Reset are proud to see our city recognized as a model of the movement on a national stage.

So visit the site. Check out that area down the block that you always wondered about. Even look at where you live! Then let the SF Planning Department know what you think.