OpenBlock is a web application that allows users to browse and search their local area for “hyper-local news” – to see what’s going on recently in the immediate geographic area.
OpenBlock stores two kinds of information:
- Local news. What’s happening nearby? This could be your original content, or content aggregated from any number of sources on the web (e.g. crime reports, restaurant inspections, etc.)
- Local geographic data. What places do we care about? Neighborhoods, zip codes, school districts, police precincts?
OpenBlock allows you to explore that data in various ways: by geographic area, small or large; by type of news; by various categories relevant to the types of news you have; by text search; or by any combination of the above.