Civic Innovation
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BatchGeo, Socrata, and Vacant Building Service Requests in the City of Chicago
I was knocking around on the City of Chicago’s Data Portal recently and I was impressed to see this data set: Vacant and Abandoned Buildings Service Requests. Here’s how they describe it: Data set contains all 311 calls for open and vacant buildings reported to the City of Chicago since January 1, 2010. The information…
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CTA Train Tracker Beta Review
Over the last few weeks, I was a part of the beta test program for the Train Tracker system launched by the CTA today. I tested this Web-based application on the Red, Brown, and Blue lines in about six different trips (riding multiple trains) using an iPhone, an iPad, and an iMac. My main mobile…
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Waiting For A Common Place Name Database
I want to have a reliable way to reference online anything that I can see in real life. I want every person, place, and thing to have a distinct reference on the Web. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, is a leader in this– he can explain the need for linked data…
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Fine Example of Government – Private Cooperation: Harper Reed Wins an Inaugural MCIC Data Innovation Award for the Chicago Transit API
This is a feel-good story about loose, effective collaboration between a private citizen and a government agency that bears real fruit for minimal money. Tonight Harper Reed, the creator of the “CTA Bus Tracker “API”, is going to be one of the inaugural winners of the MCIC Data Innovation Award. The other two worthy winnsers–…
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To All You Mayoral Candidates: Primer on City of Chicago Contracting
So there was a slow leak outside my office for a couple of weeks. Looked like water main trouble. A few days ago, I noticed that someone dug out the affected area and started a good old-fashioned water main repair project. Based on my professional and side-project inclinations, I decided to take some pics and…