Develop your city
Technology tools you can use
City of Chicago has multiple technology tools that you can use to connect residents to the city. Robust open data can inform you of recent activity anywhere in the city, whether it is crime, licenses, or arriving buses. Some of our APIs also let you communicate to city officials, such as the Open311 API that lets you open service requests or the ClearPath API that lets users submit tips or see upcoming community meetings. This page connects you to the documentation to help developers create tools for their neighbors.
Transit Authority APIs
Track the city buses, trains, advisories, and scheduled stops. See documentation on Chicago Transit Authority's Train Tracker, Bus Tracker, customer alerts and scheduled stops (GTFS) at CTA's Developer Center.
Open311 Service Tracker
Develop applications that can open and close 311 requests for services in the city ranging from filling potholes to fixing broken streetlights. Over a dozen services can be requested using the API that follows the Open311 API specification used by a dozen other cities.
Open Data Portal API
Chicago's Open Data Portal contains 600 data sets ranging from crimes to beach water quality. The portal is hosted by Socrata, which has a robust API to quickly retrieve and query data. The Socrata Open Data API (SODA) documentation provides a great overview of the API with plenty of examples and SDK's for a handful of popular programming languages.
DIVVY Bike Stations
DIVVY bikeshare program is the largest in the world. This API endpoint provides the availability of bicycles at each DIVVY station across the city. It is updated every minute and great for those who want to build a DIVVY app. Historical DIVVY bike availability and bicycle trips are available on the Open Data Portal.
We love
Collaboration
Visit the City of Chicago's GitHub page to see over a dozen open source projects maintained by the city. Many of sites and tools are used by residents every day and often used by other cities or researchers. You don't only help your city, but you also help your neighbors and other people.
ContributeFeatured Project
Health Atlas
Chicago Health Atlas let's the public review, explore and compare health-related data over time and across communities. It displays over 160 health and health-related indicators provided by the city, non-profits, state, and federal data. Take a look at the existing issues for ideas or suggest your own.
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