City of Austin

Every time someone parks at a downtown Austin meter, it gets recorded. This dataset has millions of those transactions going back to 2019, showing not just when people parked and for how long, but also how much they paid and what method they used. You can see the story in the numbers: parking activity crashed in 2020 when COVID hit and people started working from home, then gradually came back. Want to know if downtown is busy on weekdays versus weekends, or whether more people are paying by app than cash? This data shows it.

Every call to Austin police gets logged. This dataset shows what was reported, when police arrived, how many officers showed up, and how it was resolved. Includes flags for mental health calls and whether anyone got hurt. It's a complete record of dispatch activity across the city going back to 2017.

Austin Police publishes every reported crime incident going back to 2003. For each report, you get what type of crime it was, where it happened, whether it's been solved, and which part of the city it occurred in. The data updates every week with new reports. You can see patterns over time, compare different neighborhoods, or look up specific types of crimes. Keep in mind this shows reported crimes only, not necessarily all crime that occurred.

Every time someone in Austin calls 311 to report a pothole, broken streetlight, dead animal, noise complaint, or anything else that needs city attention, it gets logged here. This dataset is a running record of what's broken or annoying across the city. You can see what types of problems are most common, where they cluster geographically, how long the city typically takes to fix them, and whether complaints came in by phone, online, or in person. It's a window into the actual day-to-day problems residents deal with, not just what city planners think matters.

Want to see what's been built in Austin and when? This dataset logs every single construction permit the city has issued since 1921. You can look up what got built on a specific street, see how much it was valued at, find out if it added housing units, and track whether the project is still active. It's a straightforward record of Austin's physical growth over the past century.

Every time someone checks out and returns a bike from Austin's bikeshare system, that trip gets logged. This dataset has all 2.3 million of those trips since 2018. You can see where people are biking from and to, how long their rides last, whether they're using electric or regular bikes, and what kind of membership they have. Want to know which stations are most popular at different times of year? Or whether electric bikes get used more than standard ones? This data shows all of that.