Texas Open Data Portal Downloads Top 2M

Downloads from Texas’ official open data platform have risen from about 29,000 in 2022 to more than 2 million this year, a sharp increase that comes as the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) continues to expand centralized digital access to government information and services.

A DIR press release said the growth reflects increased use of the Texas Open Data Portal itself as well as digital tools such as application programming interfaces. The platform, established under Texas Government Code Section 2054.070 and managed by DIR, gives state agencies a common place to publish public data sets and gives users a single access point for information that otherwise could be spread across multiple agency websites.

The portal includes data related to transportation, public safety, agriculture, education, permitting and other areas of state government. Its growth comes as DIR continues work across multiple statewide digital platforms intended to consolidate how Texans access public information and services.

In May, DIR reported more than 12.3 million Texans had created accounts on Texas by Texas (TxT), the state’s official digital government assistant, representing about 53 percent of the state’s age-eligible population. As of May 1, the platform had facilitated more than 29.6 million transactions and was adding about 7,000 new account sign-ups per day.

Together, the platforms reflect different parts of DIR’s digital government work. TxT gives residents a way to complete certain transactions through a single dashboard, while the Texas Open Data Portal gives the public, researchers and businesses a way to access state data sets through one statewide platform.

Agency participation in the open data portal has also expanded. Since 2022, the number of published data assets has grown from 488 to 1,348, while the number of participating agencies has increased from 26 to 36. The number of agencies publishing three or more data sets rose from 17 to 28.

“The growth of the Texas Open Data Portal reflects what happens when public data is easier to find, understand and use,” said Neil Cooke, the state chief data officer, in the statement. “As more agencies publish data sets through a single statewide platform, we increase transparency, expand self-service access to public information and help Texans put government data to work.”

For agencies, the portal also provides a way to direct routine information requests to data that has already been published. DIR said the portal allows the public to self-serve data needs and gives state agencies a path to redirect information requests to existing data sets, reducing administrative work associated with routine requests.

The platform also puts more focus on how agencies prepare and maintain public data. DIR said metadata, regular updates and quality notes can help users understand how data sets should be used and give agencies a way to improve the public value of the information they publish.