New Open Data Application Gives Access to Licensing and Permitting Data From the City of Philadelphia - Directions Magazine

"Azavea, PlanPhilly and the City of Philadelphia Office of Innovation and Technology announced today that the 'License to Inspect' application, an online search tool for the City of Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections permits, applications and violations, is now available for the public to use. More importantly, the application provides a mechanism for citizens to save and track specific searches they are interested in and demonstrates the City of Philadelphia's on-going commitment to open data and open data initiatives. The application is available at: http://lti.planphilly.com The 'License to Inspect' application is a project of PlanPhilly, funded by the William Penn Foundation. Journalists, planners, city officials and regular citizens are invited to use it. The application offers intuitive data search, sort, and download functionality that enables users to search building permits; zoning variances; code violations including inspection violations, dangerous conditions and demolitions; fire code violations; cease occupancy orders; stop work orders; and housing inspection licenses among other data provided by an API built by Philadelphia's Office of Innovation and Technology. After signing up for a free account, users are able to subscribe to email alerts for notifications of changes in their neighborhoods, including zoning, permitting and licensing activities. In other words, if a user is interested in knowing when new permits are generated in the 4-5 blocks around his or her house, they would do a search, save their search parameters, and then ask to be notified (daily, weekly or monthly) when new records appear. 'Through OpenDataPhilly and other efforts, Azavea has supported and promoted Open Data in Philadelphia for several years. PlanPhilly could not have provided this online tool to the public without the City's willingness to share the data related to licenses and permits,' said Robert Cheetham, CEO and President of Azavea. 'This project is a real demonstration of how open data can enable new types of applications and services that benefit the public.' As more and more municipalities nationwide release their data, applications like 'License to Inspect' are made possible, which in turn fosters a dynamic dialogue between data consumers, software engineering companies, the public, and the municipal government that holds the data. This is not the first time that the City of Philadelphia has collaborated with Azavea and organizations like PlanPhilly to demonstrate its commitment to open data and open data initiatives ..."