1001 Smart Cities

Permanent project revision

DC 311 and the Open311 API It Started

Revision 2026-08-21-source-dates · effective 2026-07-26

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

unreviewed

Record the publication date of each source that states one; a source that publishes no date is marked null, and one that shows only a revision carries `updated` instead.

sha256:a368895d0714f0752510bf929750fa2f575a6a61d7e01363a9ae0b0a4afbd272
All revisions → Current entity page →

Change set

  • replace /snapshot/projectFingerprint — Updated projectFingerprint to the current sourced project record.
  • replace /snapshot/sources — Updated sources to the current sourced project record.
10
of 10 claims mapped
13
source dossiers
4
publication dates recorded
0
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-76624b68fdfac6c8 quantitative
Washington introduced a 311 line in 2000
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The only source found that dates the launch states '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.
Caveat
The start year rests on this single press source and is the weakest field in the entry; neither operator page carries a launch date.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. TheDCLine.org — DC shifts to 311 for non-emergency police calls (31 January 2019)
Claim 2 clm-ca9341802a77623d quantitative
has run it through the Office of Unified Communications since 2004
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The agency's own history: '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'.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. OUC — History of OUC
Claim 3 clm-acd95913fe8ababa quantitative
moving the case system onto a cloud platform in 2018
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The operator's 2018 announcement records the District replacing its 'server-based 311 system' with a cloud platform handling '1.8 million calls per year' and 'more than 120 types of service channels'.
Caveat
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: it is an unaudited claim in a vendor-partnered announcement.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. OUC — Washington, DC Modernizes its 311 System on Salesforce (23 October 2018)
Claim 4 clm-2819bf7a265c1742 quantitative
Open311 says its standard began as an API for D.C.'s 311
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Open311's own account: '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.' The July 2009 post places the District's API before the shared standard: it had by then 'released a draft for the second version of it's Open 311 API'.
Caveat
Attributed to Open311, not asserted as fact by the atlas. A direct fetch of the About page returned page furniture without that paragraph; the sentence was confirmed through search, the same handling this desk gave it in the San Francisco 311 entry.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Open311 — About
  2. Open311 — NYC, Boston, and D.C. Make Strides to Improve 311 Services (July 2009)
Claim 5 clm-140d37224d76eac0 quantitative
by May 2010 D.C. and San Francisco were the two cities agreeing the GeoReport v2 specification together
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Fetched directly and the strongest support for the 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 the District accepting API key requests at api.dc.gov/key.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Open311 — GeoReport v2 Established and GeoReport v1 Goes Live (6 May 2010)
Claim 6 clm-abc30a003194f219 quantitative
The District now publishes every request as annual files back to 2009, plus a rolling last-90-days layer
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
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.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself)
Claim 7 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
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The registry still publishes 'http://app.311.dc.gov/cwi/Open311/v2/services.xml' for jurisdiction id 'dc.gov' among the official gov-domain endpoints. The currency check run on 26 July 2026 found that URL and .../v2/requests.xml both returning HTTP 522 with Retry-After 120, twice.
Caveat
No source 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'.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Open311 wiki — GeoReport v2 Servers (the registry entry that no longer resolves)
Claim 8 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
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Layer 18 of the service identifies itself as 'All Service Requests — 2025'; a returnCountOnly query run on 26 July 2026 returned a count of 440,600.
Caveat
A count taken from the published layer by this desk, not a figure the District states in prose. It will move if the District revises the layer.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself)
Claim 9 clm-50a7a8307868e4a9 descriptive
it carries a due date and a resolution date but no field for the channel a request arrived through
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The layer's fields are SERVICEREQUESTID, SERVICECODE, SERVICECODEDESCRIPTION, ORGANIZATIONACRONYM, ADDDATE, RESOLUTIONDATE, SERVICEDUEDATE, SERVICEORDERSTATUS, INSPECTIONFLAG, INSPECTIONDATE, PRIORITY, WARD and coordinates — a due date and a resolution date, and no attribute recording which channel a request arrived through.
Caveat
The federal catalogue record for the same data describes intake by phone, web, mail 'or via other methods of communication', so the channels exist; they are simply not published per request.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself)
Claim 10 clm-9e88f559eeac530c descriptive
no independent audit has ever checked whether a case marked closed was actually fixed
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The public mapping tool shows requests 'by location, date (2 days, 7 days and 30 days) and status', updated hourly, and the underlying layer records a status and a resolution date. Neither the tool nor the data carries any verification of the closure, and no audit of D.C. closures was found in this review.
Caveat
A negative finding: the absence of an audit in this review is not proof that none exists.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. OCTO — DC 311 Mapping
  2. DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself)

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 2026-08-21-source-dates effective 2026-07-26 · created 2026-08-22

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

sha256:a368895d0714f0752510bf929750fa2f575a6a61d7e01363a9ae0b0a4afbd272
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
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) ouc.dc.gov · background

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
OUC — History of OUC ouc.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
TheDCLine.org — DC shifts to 311 for non-emergency police calls (31 January 2019) thedcline.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
OUC — Washington, DC Modernizes its 311 System on Salesforce (23 October 2018) ouc.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open311 — About open311.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

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
2026-07-26
Dossier created
2026-08-22
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open311 — NYC, Boston, and D.C. Make Strides to Improve 311 Services (July 2009) open311.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Open311 wiki — Washington D.C. wiki.open311.org · background

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
Open311 wiki — GeoReport v2 Servers (the registry entry that no longer resolves) wiki.open311.org · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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'.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DCGIS — ServiceRequests MapServer (the open data itself) maps2.dcgis.dc.gov · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
DC.gov — Terms and Conditions of Use for District Data (licence position) dc.gov · background

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
data.gov — 311 City Service Requests in 2026 (the conflicting licence label) catalog.data.gov · background

Open original source ↗

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
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.'

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Background source; no baseline claim points here
OCTO — DC 311 Mapping octo.dc.gov · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

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
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.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
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.