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Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

mchap.io

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Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#81

Post by exikyut »

morei wrote: post #50
amaccuish wrote: post #41

$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 :/

This is a very common reaction that shows a lack of experience in dealing with scale IT systems. You're correct that a simple DB with some forms would be cheap. But integration tends to be crazy expense. For this sort of system, other things that also need to be covered: 1. Billing integration. Including changes to billing codes, bill (fine) printing, testing. 2. Audit integration. Because whenever money is handled,…

Oh wow.

This is so impossible to optimize for :(

The really sad thing is that it's not humanly possible for one, or two or even just five people to do all of this, unless they were all like 19 or something, and then not for very long.

You literally do need all those departments that have the applied knowledge to do what they do well. Voila, $200M.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#82

Post by toomuchtodo »

vageli wrote: post #75
count wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference in rational is pretty simple: A plate identifies a vehicle. A vehicle is not a person. Govt can't give out personally identifiable information.

But a plate identifies a vehicle _and_ its owner—not just a vehicle.

A vehicle’s owner is public information in the US. Credit Karma knows the vehicles I own based on DMV records, and recommends me insurance accordingly.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#83

Post by exikyut »

What I'm most impressed about is that the author was able to include the FOIA data.

I guess I just learned I half expected each person who wanted FOIA data to have to request it themselves, for their own personal use.

In this case I can see reusing this for interesting reasons (the plates in the .txt.gz have not been removed), so...

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#84

Post by johndavidback »

arenaninja wrote: post #54
ir0nic wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Ideally, but until someone asks for it the first time, they probably don't even have an account for the purpose. So, an irritated DBA who has myriad other backlog tasks probably runs it on a copy if smart, and production if lazy or in a hurry. Would not surprise me in the slightest if an important table was dropped in this way.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#85

Post by bpchaps »

btrettel wrote: post #13

Would be nice to use the same skills to help reduce cars illegally parked in the bike lane. Identify areas which cyclists commonly complain about that (e.g., to the city) and encourage them to put up better signs?

If you're interested in bike lane parking tickets, you might want to check out this article, which was done using the same dataset:

https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/where-chicago-tickets-f...

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#86

Post by ccleve »

gt_ wrote: post #80
ccleve wrote: post #72

I know this intersection. It's at the corner of State and Division, in the heart of the Rush Street neighborhood. The likely reason there are many tickets there is that there are many bars there, and great crowds of people who have had a bit too much to drink. There are also great crowds of cops there every weekend. Without looking at the data, I'd expect that many of the tickets are getting written in the middle of…

Did the bars close when the new signs went up? Coincidentally or otherwise?

The new signs caused the rate of tickets at the spot to slow down, not stop. According to the charts, there are still 300 tickets per year being written at that one spot. That is huge.

It's not a coincidence that that huge number of tickets is being written in a busy bar area.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#87

Post by bpchaps »

myself248 wrote: post #59
bpchaps wrote: post #22

Earlier 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 ;)

So first you submit a FOIA request for the database schema...

Funny enough, I submitted one of those to all of the biggest cities in each state for a list of their databases and the columns/tables within each. Pretty much universal rejection.

The ones that didn't send me a rejection letter all told me that the cost would be somewhere between $400 and $2,000 to complete the work. While it's nice, and I've spent similar on requests before, it's not something I'm exactly interested in doing repeatedly, since this is all coming from my personal savings.

That said... I'm still fighting that fight in Chicago. Chicago used to post a "data dictionary" of 111 of their databases, which had a list of the tables and columns. Problem is... it isn't running anymore since it's no longer being funded by a $300k (!) grant. So, I'm working on requesting a database dump of that. Last request for it was rejected saying that Chicago's Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT) doesn't mave any of those records. I'm thinking it's because I requested a "copy" of the database dump, rather than just explicitly asking for the data within it.

That opens up a pretty nifty door to work with for future requests ;).

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#88

Post by jcims »

floatrock wrote: post #64

He cost the city $60k in revenue by asking them to clear up confusing signage. That's some small-government activism I can get behind!

Given that many of the tickets were issued because this is a taxi stand, it's also possible that revenues increased for the taxi company in that area.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#89

Post by 8bitsrule »

bpchaps wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #2

Matt'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 ;)

Not only are you a certified urban hero, you don't even need a costume!

Not only did you save drivers $$$thousands, but you freed up at least one of 'Chicago's Finest' to fight more serious crime.

Re: Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets

#90

Post by thatjsguy »

acct1771 wrote: post #8
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could have these hobbies!

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?!

Because the people who should be working hard to change government simply aren’t. In the US, city governments ARE “the people”. If you have a city council, start going to meetings. It’s a great way to see how your local government actually works (or doesn’t work), and you might even meet some interesting people in the process. Otherwise, run for local office or try to get on a board or a commission. It’s not sexy, but this stuff, especially things like transportation and zoning, have the most impact at the municipal level, and it’s remarkably easy to get involved.
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