Relevant Information about Political Representatives at all Scales of Government, Including their District Boundaries for 100 Major U.S. Cities, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand Are Now Easily Available.
PHILADELPHIA - May 6, 2009 - Avencia Incorporated, a geographic analysis and software development firm announces the release of a new version of CiceroLive, the free sample application of its Cicero data and mapping tool. The new CiceroLive sample enables the public to experience Cicero first hand. Cicero is a district matching and legislative elected official web service application programming interface (API) that provides organizations and businesses with an affordable tool to quickly and accurately match addresses to political and non-legislative districts, and retrieve a stream of information for all the elected officials at various scales of government representing those districts. Cicero can also generate district maps that show how an address fits into the political geography of the country and more than 100 cities nation-wide: http://www.avencia.com/Cicero/LiveSample.aspx
The Cicero team's most recent upgrades to the web service and database include: faster map generation, the addition of several new city council districts (Orlando, FL; Atlantic City, NJ; Tulsa, OK; Berkley, CA), foreign countries' legislatures, and non-legislative districts like School Districts and Watersheds. These additions coincide with an increased public interest in issues around Open Government, Redistricting 2010, the lack of online local legislative information nation-wide, and a general push by online media outlets, like The New York Times' recently released district and news lookup -- 'Represent' -- to enable information to be browsed based on an individual's political districts.
Several organizations and agencies are already using the Cicero API. Their uses range from political advocacy, arts advocacy, grassroots campaigns, open government campaigns, campaign contribution analyses, gerrymandering analyses, district matching, publishing Election Day results, and Business-to-Government services. For instance The Oregonian, serving the Portland, OR region, has been offering their online readers more innovative ways to access the news that affects them. On November 4, 2008, the day of the 2008 national elections, The Oregonian used the Cicero API to provide their readers with the ability to match their address to live tallies of votes for key political races in the legislative districts in which their address was located, in order to get election results more focused, local, and geographically relevant.
With Redistricting 2010 just around the corner, it is likely that tools like Cicero will become increasingly important. The Cicero team is preparing by constantly adding and updating data in its database as well as expanding the number of legislative districts they support. Their progress can now even be followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/CiceroAPI
The free CiceroLive can be found at:
http://www.avencia.com/Cicero/LiveSample.aspx
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About Avencia
Avencia is an award-winning, Philadelphia-based geographic analysis and software development firm specializing in the creation of innovative location-based software tools to enhance decision-making processes. Avencia believes geographic technologies can help promote the emergence of more dynamic, vibrant communities. For more information, visit
www.avencia.com
If you would like more information about Avencia or to schedule an interview with Robert Cheetham, please contact Abby Fretz at (215) 701 - 7503 or e-mail Email Contact.
