Esteban | ˈe-stə-vən - /collection/data-i/

Open Data Daily

Sep. 15, 2021

Read time: 1 minutes and 20 seconds.

tags:

Daily refresh 🍵

Toronto’s open data efforts have a bunch of releases, but keep it consistent with a solid 30 - 40 datasets on the daily. If you’re a data junkie like me, you can probably see how this is a bit of a gold mine of information about the place I live. It’s like having a daily newspaper, but instead of headlines, you get raw, unfiltered data. And trust me, it’s way more exciting than it sounds.

Here’s what it looks like

name	dataset_category	information_url
polls-conducted-by-the-city	Table	http://www.toronto.ca/polling
daily-shelter-overnight-service-occupancy-capacity	Table	https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/research-reports/housing-and-homelessness-research-and-reports/shelter-census/
traffic-signal-timing	Document	https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/streets-parking-transportation/traffic-management/traffic-signals-street-signs/request-signal-timing-information/#location=&lat=&lng=&zoom=
open-data-intake	Table	NA
highrise-residential-fire-inspection-results	Table	https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/access-city-information-or-records/fire-prevention-inspection-results-for-high-rise-residential-buildings/
building-permits-cleared-permits	Table	http://www.toronto.ca/building/building_permits.htm
building-construction-demolition-violations	Table	NA
building-permits-active-permits	Table	http://www.toronto.ca/building/building_permits.htm
apartment-building-evaluation	Table	https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/housing-shelter/rental-housing-standards/apartment-building-standards/
intersection-file-city-of-toronto	Map	NA

Well, it’s not that pretty.. or exciting in this format, but the possibilities are endless !

Imagine being able to track the pulse of the city in real-time. Whether it’s understanding how many people are using shelters each night, or seeing which companies are snagging city contracts, this data paints a vivid picture of Toronto’s daily grind. It’s like having a backstage pass to the city’s operations, minus the need for a hard hat. 👷

And if you’re into urban planning or just curious about how the city ticks, the Traffic Signal Timing dataset is good to know about too. I mean, if you’re from the city, you know that traffic has always been an ongoing issue here. It’s like getting the cheat codes for navigating Toronto’s streets. Or dive into the Building Permits data to see the city’s skyline evolving right before your eyes.

I’ll probably be spinning up one, two or five different freebies around these datasets to see what’s happening.

Check them out and let me know if there’s stuff you thought was worth checking out!