We build useful research tools for people using public data.
Coming soon
We're building a cool platform that makes navigating and understanding public crime and incident data easier, with features and tools you'll find nowhere else. A labor of love, we use these tools every day, and can't wait to share it with you when we launch. Currently in private testing.
Our initial launch is expected to cover several West and East Michigan counties, with varying features depending on ability of existing public data sources.
We publish some useful tools to showcase what's possible with open data. The tools free and open source, and everything lives on GitHub, so you can read it, run it yourself, or take it somewhere else.
Free to use, fork, and adapt.
About
I'm Dan Taylor, and I founded Cantica Systems to share tools I first built for myself.
I'm a lifelong Michigander and a multidisciplinary technologist with nearly three decades of experience. I've always wanted to know what's happening around me, and years as a scanner hobbyist taught me something simple: being passively aware of your community makes it safer. Open data can do that for everyone, and we provide services to help patch available data sources together.
A SIMPLE MISSION:
Public data, turned into tools that keep people informed and engaged.
Guiding principle
Data is useful, and accelerated by AI, it informs the public in ways never seen before.
Public data belongs to the public, and the less of it gated behind FOIA, the better. We find that data, then build the tools to make sense of it, often the tools the municipalities themselves don't have. We're committed to open source and to maximizing privacy. With a sense of civic pride, we build to promote transparency and to empower people with tools that keep them informed about the world around them.
If you're a researcher or public body and would like to work with us, we'd love to hear from you.
Questions, partnerships, or press, reach out and we'll get back to you.
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