KnowledgePlex and the Urban Markets Initiative present an online discussion about private data sources for community and economic development. A variety of private-sector data tools, such as Google Earth, are available for free or at a minimal cost. These data tools let users easily "add value" to information and tell powerful stories about their communities in ways that had not been possible in the past.
Presentations are from experts Alyssa Lee, senior research analyst at the Urban Markets Initiative, and Robert Haslach, primary consultant to the Urban RPM project of the Urban Markets Initiative. They focus on how private data sources differ from public-sector sources; what private data sources are available for community and economic development; and how public-sector data users are leveraging these private sources to paint a more complete picture of their communities.