Boston service inquiries 311 requests

How this category is defined

What counts as service inquiries: Calls and submissions logged as informational inquiries, status checks, or general questions about city services rather than reports of problems requiring a field response. High counts here typically indicate a city's 311 system captures all resident contacts, not just actionable service requests.

SELECT count(*)
FROM <boston_311_raw>
WHERE service_type IN (
  'General Comments For a Program or Policy'
)

Analyst tip: Chicago's '311 INFORMATION ONLY CALL' is the single largest contributor — roughly 1 million rows. Edmonton files informational contacts under 'General Information', 'General Inquiry', 'Routes and Schedules', 'Tax Account - Inquiries/Requests', and related types. Baltimore uses 'ECC-Information Request'. Somerville logs them as 'Information - Various Other', 'Information - Parking', and 'Information - DPW'. Philadelphia uses 'Information Request' with descriptive subtypes. Calgary uses department-prefixed inquiry types (AT - Property Tax, CT - Bus Route, etc.). Not all cities publish this category — cities that only log actionable service requests will show zero rows here.

See how service inquiries is defined for every tracked city →