MongoDB Powers City of Chicago’s WindyGrid Platform

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MongoDB, the database for modern applications, today announced that the City of Chicago is using MongoDB as the data store for WindyGrid, a real-time geospatial platform that delivers a unified view of city operations. WindyGrid enables City personnel to analyze spatial data historically and in real-time, with the database size growing by millions of records each day. Chicago’s Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) used MongoDB to develop the beta version of the app in a mere four months, and continues to rely on MongoDB’s agility to add new data types and process enhancement requests in regular four-week iterations.

MongoDB delivers a flexible data model that combines structured and unstructured data, enabling City personnel to integrate many disparate data sources – e.g., 911 calls, 311 (non-emergency) service calls, crime statistics, building and business permits, real-time location of city vehicles, weather and geospatially-enabled tweets – into WindyGrid’s single, user-friendly graphical interface. The platform offers new insights into municipal operations across 15 departments, helping personnel make fast, informed decisions to better respond to situations.

While we’ve been successfully collecting massive amounts of data for years, the WindyGrid platform is an ambitious attempt to combine that data in a powerful way in order to get answers to questions previously unavailable,” said Brenna Berman, Chief Information Officer at the City of Chicago. “MongoDB offers a comprehensive and accessible view of big data in one place and, therefore, plays a critical role in how we holistically monitor our city’s needs.”

WindyGrid was originally designed and built by the City of Chicago in advance of the NATO Summit in May 2012. It has since been used for several other major events, such as severe weather, large city festivals, and parades.

MongoDB was built for developing modern apps such as WindyGrid, where a groundbreaking idea can take root on one developer’s laptop,” said Max Schireson, CEO at MongoDB. “MongoDB is the spark for fast innovation, letting developers like the team at Chicago’s DoIT make their vision a reality, quickly and effectively.”

 

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