Chicago Graffiti Removal Service Requests Since 2011

Chicago's Department of Streets & Sanitation provides historical data on graffiti removal requests made to 311 since January 1, 2011. The dataset includes open and completed requests, with daily updates, managed by the city's Graffiti Blasters crews. It tracks service requests from residents and organizations reporting graffiti on private property.

Use Cases

• Predict `Completion Date` from `Creation Date`, `Type of Service Request`, and `Community Area` using time-series forecasting.
• Analyze spatial clusters of graffiti reports using `Latitude`, `Longitude`, and `Census Tracts` for resource allocation.
• Classify `Status` (e.g., 'Open - Dup') based on `Creation Date`, `Police District`, and `Street Address` to identify duplicate reporting patterns.
• Model the relationship between `What Type of Surface is the Graffiti on?` and request `Status` to prioritize surface-specific removal strategies.

Strengths

• Daily update frequency ensures recent request data is available.
• Includes multiple geographic identifiers: `Community Areas`, `Wards`, `Census Tracts`, `Police District`, and coordinates.
• Temporal coverage spans from January 1, 2011 onward, providing over a decade of historical data.

Limitations

• Contains duplicate entries labeled in the `Status` field (e.g., 'Open - Dup'), which may require deduplication for accurate analysis.
• Unknown total row count and dataset size limits assessment of statistical power.
• Geographic scope is limited to the City of Chicago, restricting generalizability.

Provenance

Source

data.cityofchicago.org

Collection Method

Requests logged through the city's 311 Customer Service Requests (CSR) system.

Time Range

From January 1, 2011 to present.

Freshness

Updated daily.

Geography

City of Chicago, Illinois, USA.