The MetroBoston DataCommon provides a wealth of information about the region’s people and communities through a variety of topics -- from arts and education to the environment and transportation. A resource for all those seeking to understand how the region is changing, it helps residents, stakeholders, planners, city and town officials, educators and journalists explore data and make informed decisions. We invite you to explore its data, community snapshots and create your own visualizations and reports.

The report, City of Ideas: Reinventing Boston’s Innovation Economy, shows that while the region’s innovation economy outperforms the nation—and Massachusetts and Boston both rank top among their peers—standard economic indicators don't tell us all we need to know. This report celebrates the region’s strengths but also looks “under the hood” at current and potential vulnerabilities. It calls for greater opportunity and shared prosperity through the reinvention of Boston's innovation economy. To download the report, click here. Follow @BostnIndicators and #cityofideas to get updates.

The first training on how to use the MetroBoston DataCommon will be held on February 2, 2012 at the offices of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council at 60 Temple Place in downtown Boston. Attendees have included community leaders, city and town planners, government employees staff from non-profit organizations and research organizations, and many others. For more information and to register, click here.

Data Day was a free, biennial conference on using data and technology to drive community change. The conference was held at Northeastern University on Friday, January 27th. Nearly 300 participants attended the event and over 300 viewed the webcast. At Data Day, nonprofit organizations, civic institutions and municipalities came together to see the latest in technology and tools and learn how other groups are using data. It was structured around a series of "how to" interactive workshops at three levels in which people who work with data explained where they find useful data and how they use it. For more information, visit the Data Day 2012 page.