Courtesy my Facebook feed and District of Columbia CTO Vivek Kundra here’s a fantastic example of a government agency actively trying to stimulate new ideas and innovation. Yesterday Kundra’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) released data representing more than 84,000 3D buildings for inclusion in Google Earths’ Cities in 3D program.

The release is meant to allow citizens, whether development experts or simply concerned city dwellers, a greater role in conversations and plans about the city’s future. Want to propose a new development? These 3D images should go a long way in allowing all parties a better, and simpler, platform upon which to build.

Over at the Google Earth blog, Barney Krucoff, the GIS Manager for OCTO, highlights why they released the data. I’ve cut the highlights of his remarks - visit the LatLong blog for the full version:

1. It is the right thing to do. Fundamentally, the District Government believes that data created with public funds should be available to the public.

2. Because every neighborhood can benefit from 3D. Economic development was a primary driver behind development of the dataset. The buildings provide the context in which to plan and debate proposed new developments.

3. We get better 3D performance from the cloud and we don't pay for it. Frankly, the District did not have the technical capabilities for distributing nearly 100,000 3D building across the enterprise. With the data now hosted on Google Earth 4.3, we expect DC Government users to turn to Google Earth just like the public.

4. We want to communicate with our residents. It is important to us that citizens, particularly DC taxpayers, understand what we do.

This is great stuff. We’re looking closely at what Kundra and his colleagues in Mayor Adrian Fenty’s adminstration are up to in DC. Whether it’s the use of wiki’s to bring transparency and accountability into the procurement process or releasing upwards of 80% of the real-time statistical data they collect via RSS feeds to the public, the team at OCTO is redefining traditional notions of what is and isn’t shared with the public. And in doing so they’re acknowledging that the public may be a significant asset in helping build a stronger DC community. Now what remains to be seen is what the impact of this transparency will be and ultimately how will we measure the success of Government 2.0