DC 311 and the Open311 API It Started
This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.
10 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.
How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page
✎ Updated 22 Aug 2026 Publication date recorded for 13 sources. What changed →
Washington wrote the Open311 standard for its own 311 line. The endpoint still listed for the city no longer answers, while San Francisco, which joined the specification later, keeps serving records.
what does this mean?
The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 9 more in Washington D.C. · 🪪 Digital government guide · 🏛️ Governance projects
Washington introduced a 311 line in 2000 and has run it through the Office of Unified Communications since 2004, moving the case system onto a cloud platform in 2018. Open311 says its standard began as an API for D.C.'s 311, and by May 2010 D.C. and San Francisco were the two cities agreeing the GeoReport v2 specification together. The District now publishes every request as annual files back to 2009, plus a rolling last-90-days layer. But the Open311 endpoint still listed for D.C. no longer answers — it timed out on 26 July 2026, while San Francisco's keeps serving records.
🎓 Lesson
Writing a standard is not the same as keeping it. The interface D.C. authored has gone dark while the city that joined it later still serves one, and D.C.'s published record cannot answer the questions asked of it: it carries a due date and a resolution date but no field for the channel a request arrived through, and no independent audit has ever checked whether a case marked closed was actually fixed.
Sources
Show 8 more sourcesShow fewer
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 10 claims with their sources · the forensic record
Evidence Passport · public beta 10 addressable claims, 13 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.
Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 10
The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.
clm-76624b68fdfac6c8
quantitative
Washington introduced a 311 line in 2000
Sources carrying this claim
clm-ca9341802a77623d
quantitative
has run it through the Office of Unified Communications since 2004
Sources carrying this claim
clm-acd95913fe8ababa
quantitative
moving the case system onto a cloud platform in 2018
Sources carrying this claim
clm-2819bf7a265c1742
quantitative
Open311 says its standard began as an API for D.C.'s 311
Sources carrying this claim
clm-140d37224d76eac0
quantitative
by May 2010 D.C. and San Francisco were the two cities agreeing the GeoReport v2 specification together
Sources carrying this claim
clm-abc30a003194f219
quantitative
The District now publishes every request as annual files back to 2009, plus a rolling last-90-days layer
Sources carrying this claim
clm-23388fa9fc25553f
quantitative
the Open311 endpoint still listed for D.C. no longer answers — it timed out on 26 July 2026, while San Francisco's keeps serving records
Sources carrying this claim
clm-89244efbe6ee3474
quantitative
440,600 service requests in calendar 2025, counted directly from the District's own published service-request layer on 26 July 2026
Sources carrying this claim
clm-50a7a8307868e4a9
descriptive
it carries a due date and a resolution date but no field for the channel a request arrived through
Sources carrying this claim
clm-9e88f559eeac530c
descriptive
no independent audit has ever checked whether a case marked closed was actually fixed
Sources carrying this claim
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders
This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.
Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.
sha256:a368895d0714f0752510bf929750fa2f575a6a61d7e01363a9ae0b0a4afbd272
- 10
- of 10 claims mapped
- 13
- source dossiers
- 4
- publication dates recorded
- 0
- archives linked
- 0
- exact locators
- 0
- content captures hashed
Governance facts carried by the record
- Operator
- District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications (OUC); data published by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO)
- Actor types
- city-government
- Funding model
- public
- Funding description
- District of Columbia appropriations, through the Office of Unified Communications
- Cost
- Not recorded
- Ownership
- Not recorded
- Decision rights
- Not recorded
- Exit conditions
- Not recorded
13 source dossiers
OUC — About 311 (operator)
- Stable source ID
src-2ded523aa53ca31c- Publisher
- Name not classified · ouc.dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Operator page for the running service: 'Call DC 311 at 311 24 hours a day, 7 days a week', open '24 hours a day, 365 days a year', with texting to 32311, @311DCGov, an online portal at 311.dc.gov, a mobile app and live chat 8AM-5:15PM. The page carries no launch date and no volume figures, which is why neither is sourced here.
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
OUC — History of OUC
- Stable source ID
src-464bd76d95226712- Publisher
- Name not classified · ouc.dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Establishes the operating agency and its date: 'On October 1, 2004, management of the PSCC changed from a joint operation of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) departments to the Office of Unified Communications (OUC)', whose 'responsibilities include all 911 and 311 call-taking, as well as police, fire, and medical dispatch'. The Unified Communications Center opened September 2006 and 'includes 911 and 311 services'. No earlier 311 launch date is given.
- Claims linked
TheDCLine.org — DC shifts to 311 for non-emergency police calls (31 January 2019)
- Stable source ID
src-dceafae72137bc56- Publisher
- Name not classified · thedcline.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2019-01-31
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The only source found that dates the launch: 'DC's 311 line was introduced in 2000', at first 'used exclusively for reporting non-emergencies requiring a police response', with 202-727-1000 handling other services. Also records the 2008 Fenty-era redirect of police calls back to 911, the 2012 911 Purity Amendment Act, and the January 2019 return of non-emergency police calls to 311, plus 1.5 million 911 calls in 2018 of which about a fifth were non-emergencies. yearStart 2000 rests on this single press source and is the weakest field in the entry.
- Claims linked
OUC — Washington, DC Modernizes its 311 System on Salesforce (23 October 2018)
- Stable source ID
src-471ec368f59b9f14- Publisher
- Name not classified · ouc.dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2018-10-23
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Dates the 2018 platform change and gives the operator's own scale figures: the District replaced its 'server-based 311 system' with a cloud platform, handling '1.8 million calls per year' and 'more than 120 types of service channels'. The same release claims call wait times fell 'from an average of seven minutes to 31 seconds'; that figure is deliberately not used in the entry, being an unaudited claim in a vendor-partnered announcement.
- Claims linked
Open311 — About
- Stable source ID
src-f05480ff1d361c23- Publisher
- Name not classified · open311.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The origin statement the entry attributes rather than asserts: 'Open311 first began with an API for Washington D.C.'s 311 system, but it became a community when the leadership of San Francisco and the support of organizations like OpenPlans, Code for America, and even the White House brought many cities, companies, and organizations together into a productive collaboration.' Direct fetch of this page returned the page furniture without that paragraph; the sentence was confirmed via search, the same handling this desk gave it in the sf-311 entry.
- Claims linked
Open311 — GeoReport v2 Established and GeoReport v1 Goes Live (6 May 2010)
- Stable source ID
src-1995479a7d0204ff- Publisher
- Name not classified · open311.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2010-05-06
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Fetched directly and the strongest support for D.C.'s authorship claim: 'The two cities currently driving this forward the most, San Francisco and Washington D.C., have come together to agree on and fully interoperate with a new Open311 GeoReport v2 specification.' The post also records that D.C. was accepting API key requests at api.dc.gov/key.
- Claims linked
Open311 — NYC, Boston, and D.C. Make Strides to Improve 311 Services (July 2009)
- Stable source ID
src-d782e12a6203541e- Publisher
- Name not classified · open311.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Places D.C.'s API before the shared standard: by July 2009 the District had 'released a draft for the second version of it's Open 311 API', with draft documentation hosted at octolabs.pbworks.com and the Apps for Democracy contest closing that month. A first version therefore existed before GeoReport v1 went live in May 2010.
- Claims linked
Open311 wiki — Washington D.C.
- Stable source ID
src-b297b38d3b7cff52- Publisher
- Name not classified · wiki.open311.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The community's own record of what D.C.'s API did: 'Metadata services to provide list of types of requests handled by 311', 'Structured service request data', 'Asynchronous submission — on submission of new ticket, API returns temporary token' and 'Anonymous submission'. Notes the District 'Ran apps for democracy contest in Spring 09' and later migrated between CRM systems.
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
Open311 wiki — GeoReport v2 Servers (the registry entry that no longer resolves)
- Stable source ID
src-b63a53c197f2a8f6- Publisher
- Name not classified · wiki.open311.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The endpoint still published for the District: 'http://app.311.dc.gov/cwi/Open311/v2/services.xml', jurisdiction id 'dc.gov', XML only, listed among the official gov-domain endpoints. The currency check, run on 26 July 2026: both that URL and .../v2/requests.xml returned HTTP 522 with Retry-After 120, twice. No source found anywhere announces a retirement or a replacement endpoint, so the entry reports the measurement and not a cause. status.open311.org/cities/dc is not usable as counter-evidence: the D.C. requests it shows are seeded dummy records titled 'Shoes & Beauty' and 'Sports & Outdoors'.
- Claims linked
DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself)
- Stable source ID
src-bf562279c388efb7- Publisher
- Name not classified · maps2.dcgis.dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Establishes the shape of the archive and the source of the impact figure. The service carries one layer per calendar year from 'All Service Requests — 2009' to 'All Service Requests — 2026', plus 'Last 90 Days', 'Snow' and 'Current Fiscal Year' — annual snapshots with a rolling recent layer, not a single live feed. Layer 18 identifies itself as 'All Service Requests — 2025'; a returnCountOnly query on 26 July 2026 returned {'count':440600}. Its fields are SERVICEREQUESTID, SERVICECODE, SERVICECODEDESCRIPTION, ORGANIZATIONACRONYM, ADDDATE, RESOLUTIONDATE, SERVICEDUEDATE, SERVICEORDERSTATUS, INSPECTIONFLAG, INSPECTIONDATE, PRIORITY, WARD and coordinates — a due date and a resolution date, but no attribute recording which channel a request arrived through.
DC.gov — Terms and Conditions of Use for District Data (licence position)
- Stable source ID
src-7e3864816cd00609- Publisher
- Name not classified · dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The District's own instrument, and the one that governs: 'Unless otherwise noted, the data on the Sites is public domain and made available with a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal dedication', waiving rights worldwide including for commercial use 'all without asking permission'. Credit is requested, not required: 'While not required, we ask that you give proper credit when using data from the Sites in your own work.' District logos are carved out. The District’s catalogue metadata does not consistently match this instrument — that discrepancy is documented in the atlas entry on D.C.’s open data programme.
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
data.gov — 311 City Service Requests in 2026 (the conflicting licence label)
- Stable source ID
src-7ad6e5992e4826ed- Publisher
- Name not classified · catalog.data.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2025-12-29
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The harvested federal catalogue record contradicts the District's own terms: its license field reads 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0', an attribution licence, where D.C.'s portal terms dedicate the same data to the public domain under CC0. Publisher is the Office of Unified Communications; last modified 21 July 2026. Description: 'Requests are received by the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) through the Mayor's Call Center (311), citizens web intake at 311.dc.gov, electronic and US mail service or via other methods of communication.'
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
OCTO — DC 311 Mapping
- Stable source ID
src-46d8406b32c871a2- Publisher
- Name not classified · octo.dc.gov
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The public-facing live view: the tool 'allows the public to see 311 service requests by location, date (2 days, 7 days and 30 days) and status', with data 'automatically accessed and updated every hour Monday to Sunday'. No Open311 or API reference appears anywhere on the page.
- Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
- Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
- Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
- A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
- The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.
Continue exploring
Compare this project
Explore the wider context
📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “DC 311 and the Open311 API It Started” — Washington D.C., United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/washington-dc-311/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.
