Community Data Science Workshops (Spring 2015)/Day 3 Projects/Civic data

From CommunityData


Building and visualizing datasets using data.seattle.gov and Google apps[edit]

In this project, we will explore a few ways to gather data from data.seattle.gov using the Socrata API, the Google Maps API, and Google Fusion tables.

Today's dataset
Click here to view the Seattle Building Permits database
Today's scripts
Click here to download the today's scripts


Goals[edit]

  • Collect data on building permits in Seattle, by neighborhood and by year awarded.
  • Combine those data with neighborhood data from the Google Maps API
  • Download the results in a CSV file
  • Upload results to Google's Fusion Table visualization engine


Topics we will cover[edit]

  • creating API queries and filtering and grouping the results
  • combining results from multiple APIs
  • downloading API results as CSV files
  • building visualizations of timeseries and geolocated data


Questions we will (attempt to) answer with our data[edit]

  1. which Seattle neighborhoods have had the most multifamily residential construction (apartments and townhomes) since 2010?
  2. how much has the rate of apartment construction increased since 2010?
  3. where are the most expensive construction projects currently being built?


Other questions you can answer with these data[edit]

  1. which Seattle developer has built the most apartments and townhomes since 2010?
  2. where in Seattle are the most single-family homes being constructed?


Resources[edit]

If you are confused by anything today, go back and refresh your memory with the Day 0 setup and tutorial and Day 0 tutorial

Sample API queries
Sample charts/maps
  • Google Fusion table map of permits 2010-2015 [1]
Help resources and inspiration
Other data.seattle.gov datasets with neighborhood, timeseries, and/or location data
Instructional videos
Other Socrata sites that use this API