1001 Smart Cities

Permanent project revision

SF311 and its Open311 Write API

Revision 2026-09-27-baseline-popular · effective 2026-09-27

Current revision. This is the snapshot used by the live entity page.

unreviewed

Created the first structured Evidence Passport with 13 claims and 12 source dossiers.

sha256:c8e646d291e223f38eb579c8c660c7baa83d39c07a528ce1bb2bd7c4b06f14c2
All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

  • add /evidencePassport — Added claim-level evidence mapping and source dossiers.
  • add /revisionHistory — Established a permanent, hash-addressed baseline revision.
13
of 13 claims mapped
12
source dossiers
7
publication dates recorded
7
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Claims, one by one

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.

Claim 1 clm-ea60b310a26deb8d quantitative
San Francisco opened 311 in March 2007
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The League of California Cities' magazine dates the launch to March 2007; the city's own page confirms the 2007 founding.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Western City Magazine — Taking Service to the Next Level With 311
  2. SF311 Customer Service Center — About
Claim 2 clm-6ba1d4e9ceb89cb5 quantitative
folding more than 1,000 city phone numbers into one line
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The operator explains 311 exists because over 50 agencies and more than 1,000 phone numbers made it unclear whom to call.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. SF311 Customer Service Center — About
Claim 3 clm-10b319ac7fa107e8 quantitative
In May 2010 it agreed the Open311 GeoReport v2 specification jointly with Washington D.C.
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Open311 post of 6 May 2010 records San Francisco and Washington D.C. agreeing to interoperate on a new GeoReport v2 specification.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Open311 — GeoReport v2 Established and GeoReport v1 Goes Live (6 May 2010)
Claim 4 clm-c46bd8c164012770 quantitative
whose 311 API the standard grew out of
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Open311's own history states the standard began with Washington D.C.'s 311 API, with San Francisco leading its growth into a community.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Open311 — Highlights from the Open311 Ecosystem (21 June 2015)
Claim 5 clm-bb33b76f4a967cf2 descriptive
so outside apps can write into the city's work queue rather than only read from it
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The article describes the API as letting third-party apps both pull data from and send data to the 311 service.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. The San Francisco Standard — His complaint app is way better than 311. The city is about to kill it (26 May 2025)
Claim 6 clm-22221eb08ed9fe4e quantitative
Cases since July 2008 are published nightly under a public-domain dedication
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The dataset description covers cases created since 1 July 2008, updated nightly, and its licence metadata names the Public Domain Dedication and License.
Caveat
The dataset includes only cases with location information.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DataSF — 311 Cases (vw6y-z8j6)
Claim 7 clm-acda1e377f5a7d99 quantitative
The city set 12 July 2025 as the shutdown date for that API
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The city administrator's office told the developer the API would close on 12 July 2025; NBC relays the city's cost reason, and a Public Works Commission log records public correspondence about it in May 2025.
Caveat
The date comes from what officials told the developer; no published city notice sets it.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. The San Francisco Standard — His complaint app is way better than 311. The city is about to kill it (26 May 2025)
  2. NBC Bay Area — Solve SF app linked to city's 311 may shut down after 5 months (27 May 2025)
  3. SF Public Works Commission — correspondence log, 2–15 May 2025
Claim 8 clm-9ca59d184745dda7 quantitative
its public endpoint was still returning new requests in September 2026
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
On 27 September 2026 the endpoint returned service requests filed the previous day.
Caveat
This shows the endpoint answers; it does not show whether outside apps can still file through it.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. San Francisco 311 — Open311 GeoReport v2 endpoint
Claim 9 clm-dbe78ed5a5fdfaf2 quantitative
872,426 service requests created in 2025, counted directly from the city's own open dataset
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Grouping the dataset's calendar-2025 rows by source gives 872,426 in total. The dataset page shows no total, so the passage cannot be quoted from it.
Caveat
Counted on 27 September 2026; the dataset is updated nightly and totals for past years can shift slightly.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DataSF — 311 Cases (vw6y-z8j6)
Claim 10 clm-f630ef1117206e85 quantitative
534,032 through a mobile app (61%), 181,123 on the web (21%) and 149,652 by phone (17%)
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The same grouping of 2025 rows on the source field gives these counts; the shares are computed from them. No page of the source states them.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DataSF — 311 Cases (vw6y-z8j6)
Claim 11 clm-7b78915f23f5b188 quantitative
6,139 from agency integrations, 833 by Twitter or email, and 647 test or unlabelled rows
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Counts of the 'Integrated Agency', 'Twitter' and 'Email', 'Test' and empty source values among 2025 rows; computed, not quoted.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DataSF — 311 Cases (vw6y-z8j6)
Claim 12 clm-e0ed8d2e7a727b75 descriptive
the city moved to shut its API the year a volunteer app began filing a visible share of some neighbourhoods' reports
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The article reports Solve SF, launched in January 2025, filing 44% of graffiti requests near Valencia Street and 21% of illegal-parking reports in the Richmond, as the city announced the API shutdown.
Caveat
The shares come from the app's own dashboard, which 311 officials told the paper was accurate; citywide the app filed about 7% of 2025 requests to that date.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. The San Francisco Standard — His complaint app is way better than 311. The city is about to kill it (26 May 2025)
Claim 13 clm-397882064b58869d quantitative
Its own Controller had told SF311 in 2018 to tighten internal controls so that requests are accurately addressed and its published reports can be relied on
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Controller's audit of 9 August 2018 recommends stronger internal controls so requests are accurately addressed and key reports shared with the public can be relied on.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Office of the Controller, City Services Auditor — San Francisco 311: New Technology, Stronger Departmental Partnerships, and Robust Internal Controls Will Improve Customer Service (9 August 2018)

Source dossiers and revision state

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.

unreviewed Revision 2026-09-27-baseline-popular effective 2026-09-27 · created 2026-09-27

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:c8e646d291e223f38eb579c8c660c7baa83d39c07a528ce1bb2bd7c4b06f14c2
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
13
of 13 claims mapped
12
source dossiers
7
publication dates recorded
7
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
SF311 Customer Service Center, Office of the City Administrator (City and County of San Francisco)
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

12 source dossiers

SF311 Customer Service Center — About sf.gov · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c041d776510df862
Publisher
Name not classified · sf.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
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Operator page: SF311 was founded in 2007 under Mayor Gavin Newsom to replace a landscape of over 50 city agencies and more than 1,000 phone numbers with one number; it answers by phone in over 160 languages.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Western City Magazine — Taking Service to the Next Level With 311 westerncity.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-07a4b30bbb64e3b9
Publisher
Name not classified · westerncity.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2014-06-01
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The League of California Cities' magazine (June 2014): the SF311 center launched in March 2007 and had answered its 16 millionth call by March 2014; service requests are published to the city's open data portal.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open311 — Highlights from the Open311 Ecosystem (21 June 2015) open311.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-2f75fe60d6bae0b0
Publisher
Name not classified · open311.org
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2015-06-21
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Open311's own history: the standard 'first began with an API for Washington D.C.'s 311 system' and became a community under San Francisco's leadership with OpenPlans, Code for America and the White House.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open311 — GeoReport v2 Established and GeoReport v1 Goes Live (6 May 2010) open311.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-04-18
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Dates the joint specification: '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.' Same post records that San Francisco 'moved their API from just being available for testing to being deployed as a live, in-production web service'. The v2 spec was frozen on 11 March 2011.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
San Francisco 311 — Open311 GeoReport v2 endpoint mobile311.sfgov.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-ff790016e7e8dbf1
Publisher
Name not classified · mobile311.sfgov.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
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The city's public Open311 GeoReport v2 endpoint. On 27 September 2026 it returned live service requests filed the previous day; the companion services.json listed service codes of type 'batch'.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
San Francisco 311 — Open311 API notes mobile311.sfgov.org · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-8d58629383f3b699
Publisher
Name not classified · mobile311.sfgov.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
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-08-14
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The city's Open311 page, hosted by its app vendor Connected Bits: points developers to the Open311 specification, gives the services.json example endpoint, states that no jurisdiction_id is required and that XML and JSON are supported.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
The San Francisco Standard — His complaint app is way better than 311. The city is about to kill it (26 May 2025) sfstandard.com · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e90e70d330bcf22e
Publisher
Name not classified · sfstandard.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-05-26
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-08-01
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Officials told the developer of Solve SF on 13 May 2025 that the Open311 API would be shut down on 12 July 2025; the city administrator's office said it 'would have to be fully rebuilt'. Solve SF, launched 29 January 2025, had filed 16,278 of the 336,500 requests made in 2025 to that date, and by its own dashboard — which 311 officials called accurate — 44% of graffiti requests near Valencia Street and 21% of illegal-parking reports in the Richmond.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
NBC Bay Area — Solve SF app linked to city's 311 may shut down after 5 months (27 May 2025) nbcbayarea.com · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-9c71538f9e3452c7
Publisher
Name not classified · nbcbayarea.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-05-27
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2025-06-16
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Independent confirmation of the city's stated reason: 'changes to the 311 service will make it unaffordable to staff and maintain the old API.'

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
SF Public Works Commission — correspondence log, 2–15 May 2025 sfpublicworks.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-475b76a20f2ed51a
Publisher
Name not classified · sfpublicworks.org
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2025-06-01
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The Public Works Commission's log of correspondence received 2–15 May 2025 records a letter from a member of the public dated 14 May 2025 with the subject '311 shutting down API'.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DataSF — 311 Cases (vw6y-z8j6) data.sf.gov · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c52553964fb6f6bf
Publisher
Name not classified · data.sf.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
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The open dataset of SF311 cases created since 1 July 2008 with location information, updated nightly, under the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL 1.0). The impact figures group calendar-2025 rows on the dataset's source field, counted on 27 September 2026.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Office of the Controller, City Services Auditor — San Francisco 311: New Technology, Stronger Departmental Partnerships, and Robust Internal Controls Will Improve Customer Service (9 August 2018) sfcontroller.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-5ef1e32cf34dba77
Publisher
Name not classified · sfcontroller.org
Type / language
pdf · language not classified
Published
2018-08-09
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2024-07-30
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

The Controller's performance audit of 9 August 2018: SF311 should improve internal controls so that requests are accurately addressed and its key reports can be relied on; Call Center performance 'declined substantially from 2013 to 2015'. Seven recommendations.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Hoodline — San Francisco 311 buried in nearly 800,000 complaints (12 January 2026) hoodline.com · background

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-5177b004b1066dd4
Publisher
Name not classified · hoodline.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2026-01-12
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-09-27
Dossier created
2026-09-27
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
Open archived copy ↗ · 2026-01-12
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

January 2026 local coverage: nearly 800,000 311 requests in 2025, with third-party tools including Solve SF cited as pushing up volume while City Hall debated limiting its API access. Its headline total is lower than the city's own dataset count.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
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.