Service category mappings

Analyst tip

Austin prefixes everything 'ARR -' (Austin Resource Recovery): 'ARR - Garbage', 'ARR - Recycling', 'ARR - Compost', 'ARR - Bulk', 'ARR - Household Hazardous Waste'. Calgary uses a mix of 'WRS -' (Waste and Recycling Services) and 'GFL -' (the contractor Green For Life). NYC doesn't break sanitation out into its own category in our mapping — expect NYC sanitation requests to appear under 'other' or 'street_cleaning'.

Analyst tip

Austin splits street lights ('AE Street Light Issue - Address') from traffic signals ('TPW - Traffic Signal - Maintenance') and signs ('TPW - Traffic Sign Maintenance'). Calgary uses the 'Roads -' prefix for all three. Oakland uses the terse 'ELECTRICAL' and 'TRAFFIC_ENGIN' abbreviations.

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.

Analyst tip

This is where NYC's HPD-style housing complaints live: 'HEAT/HOT WATER', 'PLUMBING', 'PAINT/PLASTER', 'DOOR/WINDOW', 'UNSANITARY CONDITION'. Chicago uses the single catch-all 'Building Violation'. Baton Rouge uses 'BLIGHTED PROPERTIES' and 'BUILDING CODE/ZONING VIOLATIONS'. Expect this category to be large in cities with aggressive code enforcement.

Analyst tip

Austin prefixes with 'TPW -' for Transportation and Public Works ('TPW - Pothole Repair', 'TPW - Pavement Failure'). Calgary uses 'Roads -' as its prefix and includes 'Roads - Snow and Ice Control' here — if you're analyzing a Canadian city, expect winter months to dominate this category. Chicago splits 'Alley Pothole Complaint' from 'Pothole in Street Complaint'. NYC uses the single catch-all 'Street Condition'.

Analyst tip

Austin prefixes everything 'Animal Protection - ...'. Calgary uses 'AS -' for animal services and also files rodent calls under 'Parks - Wildlife Management'. NYC does not currently have a dedicated animal service_type in our mapping — rodent and wildlife complaints land under building or street categories in that city.

Analyst tip

Austin uses 'AW -' (Austin Water) and 'WPD -' (Watershed Protection Department) prefixes. Calgary uses 'WATS -' (Water and Sewer). NYC uses 'WATER LEAK' and 'Water System'. Baton Rouge has a broader 'ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES' that may include non-water items — cross-check against the raw feed if precision matters.

Analyst tip

Chicago has the richest split: 'Tree Debris Clean-Up Request', 'Tree Emergency', 'Tree Removal Inspection', and the retired 'Tree Trim Request (NO LONGER BEING ACCEPTED)' — if you're computing historical Chicago tree-trim counts, note the cutoff date. Calgary uses 'Parks - Tree Concern - GIS'. New Orleans and Somerville lump trees together with parks under 'Parks & Parkways' / 'Parks & Playgrounds'.

Analyst tip

Austin uses 'ARR - Street Sweeping' (Austin Resource Recovery — the sanitation department). Calgary has both 'Roads - Debris on Street/Sidewalk/Boulevard' and 'WRS - Debris in Backlane'. NYC's 'Dirty Condition' lands here. Oakland uses 'CUT_CLEAN' and 'STREETSW'.

Analyst tip

Austin uses 'TPW - Sidewalk Repair' and 'TPW - Obstruction in Right of Way'. Calgary's sidewalk-snow-and-ice calls come in under 'Bylaw - Snow and Ice on Sidewalk' (separate from the equivalent roadway category). LA splits this across 'Curb Issues', 'Obstructions', and 'Report a Sidewalk Problem'.

Analyst tip

Austin prefixes with 'TPW - Parking' (Transportation and Public Works). NYC uses 'Blocked Driveway' and 'Illegal Parking'. LA has a broad 'Parking Issues' plus 'Dockless Mobility Enforcement' for scooter parking. Oakland simply uses 'PARKING'. Note: abandoned vehicles are a SEPARATE category in this dataset.

Analyst tip

NYC dominates this category with the 'Noise - *' variants — Residential, Street/Sidewalk, Commercial, Vehicle, Helicopter, Park, House of Worship — plus the bare 'Noise' type. Calgary uses 'Bylaw - Noise Concerns', 'Bylaw - Disturbance and Behavioural Concerns', and 'AS - Animal Noise' (which is the one case where we fold animal-noise complaints into the noise category rather than animals). San Francisco, Austin, Boston, and Buffalo all have multiple noise-specific service types: San Francisco uses a single 'Noise'; Austin splits between 'DSD - Outdoor Commercial Venue Music Complaint' and the much larger 'APD - Non Emergency Noise/Alarm'; Boston splits across 'Loud Parties/Music/People', 'Work Hours-Loud Noise Complaints', 'Undefined Noise Disturbance', 'Animal Noise Disturbances', 'Automotive Noise Disturbance', and 'Rooftop & Mechanical Disturbances'; Buffalo uses 'Excessive Noise'. Chicago publishes 'Aircraft Noise Complaint' but without lat/lng, which is why Chicago doesn't get a noise heatmap.

Analyst tip

Most cities use a literal 'Graffiti' or 'Graffiti Removal' string. Austin splits public vs. private property ('APH - Graffiti Abatement - Public Property' vs. 'DSD - Graffiti Abatement - Private Property'). San Francisco does the same split. Calgary uses 'Corporate - Graffiti Concerns'.

Analyst tip

LA uses 'Illegal Dumping Item Pickup', Chicago uses 'Fly Dumping Complaint', Oakland uses 'ILLDUMP', Calgary uses 'Bylaw - Material on Public Property'. Cities without a dedicated dumping service_type typically log these under street_cleaning or building_maintenance.

Analyst tip

Look for service_type values containing 'Abandoned' or 'Derelict' (NYC, New Orleans), 'ABANDONED AUTO' (Oakland), and Austin's 'APD - Vehicle Abatement' prefix. Chicago uses the exact string 'Abandoned Vehicle Complaint'.

Analyst tip

Look for 'Encampment' (NYC, San Francisco), 'Homeless Encampment' (LA), 'HOMELESS EMT' (Oakland), and 'Corporate - Encampment Concerns' (Calgary). Only a handful of the cities we track publish a dedicated encampment service type — others fold encampment complaints into 'other' or general building/street categories.

Analyst tip

No positive pattern — this is where requests land when no mapping exists for the city's service_type. Look at a city's own raw feed to see the full service_type distribution and identify which unmapped types dominate the 'other' bucket.