license: cc-by-nc-4.0
tags:
- cambridge
- massachusetts
- city
- permits
- addition
- alteration
- buildingbeam
- building
- home
- map
- location
- floor
- kitchen
- bathroom
- decoration
- window
- wall
- electrical
- roof
- door
- basement
- fire
- ceiling
- cabinet
- porch
- shower
- stairs
- bedroom
- sprinkler
- lighting
- construction
- housing
- development
- house
Building Permits: Addition/Alteration (Modified Version)
Description
This dataset is based on the "Building Permits: Addition/Alteration" repository made available by the City of Cambridge, MA, through its Open Data Portal. In this modified version, multiple work items for each unique pair of latitude and longitude coordinates are concatenated into a single text blob. This approach provides a consolidated historical view of all work items performed at each location from July 2018 to February 2025, enhancing the ability to quickly grasp the full scope of alterations and additions made to a property over time.
Usage
This dataset is particularly useful for integrating into a searchable map interface where users can input a specific address and retrieve a comprehensive history of house/building modifications at that location. The structured concatenation of work items into text blobs simplifies data handling and visualization on user interfaces.
License
The data is provided under the Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL), which allows users to freely access, modify, and share the dataset without legal encumbrances. Note that the City of Cambridge provides this data without any warranty.
How to Contribute
Contributions to this dataset are welcome. You can contribute by:
- Suggesting improvements to the data concatenation method.
- Adding more years of data or additional geographical areas.
- Enhancing the search functionality on the map interface.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the City of Cambridge for making their datasets available under the PDDL and supporting open data initiatives.