Exploring Cities With

Open Data APIs

Understanding and Using APIs

Simmons College

January 8, 2018

What is municipal

open data?

Data is open if it can be freely accessed,

used, modified and shared by anyone for

any purpose. – Open Data Handbook

✳ Every day local governments collect

vast stores of information related to

city services and operations, ranging

from pothole repair requests, to

approved building permits, to fire

incident reports.

✳ Over the course of past decade, more

and more cities have elected to share

this information with the public in order

to promote government transparency,

data-driven decisions-making, and

civic engagement.

How do you build a

project on municipal

open data?

✳ As of 2018, most major American cities

have launched open data initiatives

(the nonprofit Open Knowledge

International’s US City Open Data

Census provides an overview).

✳ Each city government partners with a

data repository to host a central,

searchable online open data portal.

Popular data repositories include

Socrata, CKAN , and ArcGIS Open

Data.

✳ Oftentimes an open data portal will

include a tab in its navigation menu

labeled “API Documentation” or

“Developers” which links to detailed

instructions for users about working

with its data repository’s API to query

API documentation for Analyze Boston, Boston’s open

data hub, powered by CKAN

Who builds projects

on municipal open

data?

“Civic hackers” are engineers,

technologists, civil servants, scientists,

designers, artists, educators, students,

entrepreneurs, community members —

anybody, really — who is willing to

collaborate with others and create open-

source solutions using publicly released

data, code and technology to solve

challenges in their neighborhoods, cities,

states and country. – Chattanooga

Public Library

Some projects built on

municipal open data solve

simple, everyday problems

for people who live and work

in cities...

Was My Car Towed?

Was My Car Towed, built on the

Chicago Data Portal’s Towed

Vehicles dataset, allows you to

search by license plate to check if

your car has been towed.

Pwoint

Pwoint, built on Philadelphia’s

Licenses & Inspections API,

tweets out daily maps that display

the geographic location of new

permit activity.

DontEat.at

DontEat.at, built on NYC’s

Restaurant Inspection

Results dataset, texts you an

alert if you check into

Foursquare at an

establishment in danger of

being closed for health code

violations.

Other projects built on municipal

open data provide insight into

complex urban issues…

ACLU Live Map of Marijuana Incidents & Arrests

During the run up to the 2016 vote

on Question 4 (the Massachusetts

Marijuana Legalization Initiative),

the ACLU released this real-time

map, built on Boston’s Crime

Incident Reports dataset, illustrating

the disproportionate concentration

of marijuana-related incidents and

arrests in communities of color.

Dap.Map

The Displacement Alert Project Map,

drawing on NYC’s Department of

Buildings permits data, is a building-by-

building interactive map designed to

highlight where residential tenants may

be facing significant displacement

pressures and where affordable

apartments are most threatened across

New York City.

How can libraries can

help patrons access,

contribute to, and

create projects built

on municipal open

data?

✳ Partner with local government officials

to establish your library as a center for

civic engagement by training librarians

to become open data ambassadors.

✳ Support civic technology programming

for patrons interested in experimenting

and creating with open data. Host an

Open Data Day or a National Day of

Civic Hacking with workshops, guest

speakers, and a hackathon.

Thanks!

Presentation slides: goo.gl/UHB9Hu

Contact:

Kayla Hammond Larkin

@hahahammond