How much did the FOIA request cost?
It was free. I've never had to pay for any information coming from an Illinois FOIA request.
You might want to try postal address lookup/verification software to fix the addresses.
Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
51–60 of 248 posts
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
The TL;DR is: "any criminal records is public information". Fundamentally, even if it's very minor, it's public information until expunged, cleared, or sealed. I think most people are generally fine with this, it's only really a problem if you consistently are committing offenses.
This is not criminal though?
It is. If you get a parking ticket that means you are being charged with a crime, the crime is just a minor infraction.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not criminal though?
It is. If you get a parking ticket that means you are being charged with a crime, the crime is just a minor infraction.
Source? I'm not a lawyer and I don't know Illinois law, but I have generally read these are civil and not criminal offenses, e.g. https://www.wisemantriallaw.com/blog/2012/august/the-differe...
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hey! Thanks for posting this, and the kind words. Interesting note about getting data like this - Illinois FOIA allows a requester to submit a SQL as part of their request.. so long as they know the tables and columns within the database ;)
Now wouldn't it be funny if you got them to drop a table this way?
Wouldn't you assign readonly permissions to the account used to fulfill these requests?
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#55Matt's schtick is automated, large-scale FOIA requesting; he obtains huge collections of data from cities and then tries to do interesting stuff with it. Here, he apparently managed to get all the tickets in Chicago for several years running, and then used that data to fix the parking signs. This, to me, is so neat.
Hey! Thanks for posting this, and the kind words. Interesting note about getting data like this - Illinois FOIA allows a requester to submit a SQL as part of their request.. so long as they know the tables and columns within the database ;)
This is one of my all time favorite HN posts, a really good deed done with Unix.
So inspiring!
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#56$190 million?! What does the architecture consist of? A database, some forms and some integrations/api? I'm 90% sure they could have done that with free software and a good support contract with a UNIX provider for far less :/
10 year support contract is certainly a good chunk of that
The initial product could be free, and that would still be a decent price for 10 years of any real support.
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#57Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm kind of on a negative streak these days, so forgive me, reader, but...why in god's green earth aren't these the government's hobbies?!
This one change cost the government 60K. If changes like this are implemented all over the city, how will they pay for the IBM contract?
Civil forfeiture?
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#59Matt's schtick is automated, large-scale FOIA requesting; he obtains huge collections of data from cities and then tries to do interesting stuff with it. Here, he apparently managed to get all the tickets in Chicago for several years running, and then used that data to fix the parking signs. This, to me, is so neat.
Hey! Thanks for posting this, and the kind words. Interesting note about getting data like this - Illinois FOIA allows a requester to submit a SQL as part of their request.. so long as they know the tables and columns within the database ;)
So first you submit a FOIA request for the database schema...
Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm kind of on a negative streak these days, so forgive me, reader, but...why in god's green earth aren't these the government's hobbies?!
This one change cost the government 60K. If changes like this are implemented all over the city, how will they pay for the IBM contract?
Heaven forbid that bidding be competitive and that contractors be held accountable.