Jason Hoekstra

Data.ED.gov

August 2012 Drupal Mapbox Open Data Federal Government Data Visualization
Data.ED.gov

The U.S. Department of Education's first consolidated open-data catalog and rapid publication platform, advancing federal digital transparency during the Obama administration. Source code reused to create data.hud.gov.

The Challenge

The U.S. Department of Education lacked a centralized data catalog and a modern way to publish new datasets. Federal education data was fragmented, slow to release, and difficult for the public to interpret or reuse. The Obama administration prioritized digital transparency and civic engagement, requiring new tools to publish high-value datasets quickly and encourage collaboration among grantees and external partners.

Role & Ownership

  • Architect & Implementation Lead
  • Designed the platform architecture and data publication strategy
  • Led implementation of data discovery, mapping, visualization, and open-access features
  • Coordinated cross-agency data integration efforts

Technical Approach

Wave 1: Open Data & Grants Transparency

Built a centralized open-data catalog to publish high-priority federal education datasets including State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation (i3), and Promise Neighborhoods.

  • Interactive mapping and filtering to show how grant funds were distributed nationwide
  • Integrated the newly launched Mapbox platform with custom base layers, geospatial plotting, and search/filter functionality
  • Enabled public understanding of federal investments and grantee discovery/collaboration

Wave 2: National Broadband Data

FCC K-12 Broadband Map
  • Partnered with the Federal Communications Commission to publish national K-12 broadband availability maps
  • Used Mapbox custom layers to visualize broadband access across schools
  • Supported a joint, high-priority FCC-ED federal initiative

Wave 3: Data Visualization Wizard (DataVizWiz)

DataVizWiz interface

Designed and built DataVizWiz, a reusable Drupal module that reduced visualization creation from 8-32 hours to minutes:

  • Upload arbitrary CSV files and automatically generate searchable, filterable data views
  • Geo-spatial mapping with interactive points and pop-ups
  • Pie charts, bar charts, and sortable summary tables
  • Export to CSV, JSON, GeoJSON, and XML formats
  • Lightweight API responding to search and filter parameters

Key Results

  • Established the first modern, consolidated open-data platform for the U.S. Department of Education
  • Enabled rapid publication of high-impact federal education datasets
  • Improved transparency and public understanding of federal grant distribution
  • Facilitated cross-grantee collaboration by making award and program data discoverable
  • Platform and source code reused to create data.hud.gov for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • Demonstrated viability of open-source, agency-replicable data portals at the federal level

Technologies

Drupal, Mapbox, DataVizWiz, CSV/XML/API feeds, GeoJSON