City of Madison opens up public records and open data to developers

From nbc15.com:

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin has unveiled the city's "Open Data" initiative. It's something the city has been working on for months. The new initiative allows people to access public information easily on the City of Madison's website.

Greg Tracy is a software developer and created the bus tracking app, "SMS My Bus." The app allows users to text any bus stop location on a mobile phone and within seconds the location of your bus is sent back instantly. Tracy created the app because he was sick of not knowing when his bus would arrive.

He created the app by looking through the same information that was released publicly Tuesday.