Historical Rodent Baiting Service Requests for Chicago

Chicago's historical dataset contains all open and completed rodent baiting requests and rat complaints made to the city's 311 service system since January 1, 2011. The data is maintained by the City of Chicago's Department of Streets & Sanitation and was replaced by a new dataset in 2018, making this a historical-only record. It includes details on request creation, completion, location, and investigation actions.

Use Cases

• Predict `Status` (e.g., 'Completed', 'Open - Dup') from `Creation Date`, `Ward`, and `Community Area` using classification models.
• Analyze seasonal trends in `Number of Premises with Rats` by aggregating data from the `Creation Date` column.
• Map rodent complaint density by `Census Tracts` or `Ward` using `Latitude` and `Longitude` coordinates for spatial visualization.
• Identify areas with high `Number of Premises with Garbage` to correlate with rat sighting reports (`Number of Premises with Rats`).
• Forecast future request volumes using `Creation Date` and `Completion Date` to model service request lifecycles.

Strengths

• Temporal coverage spans from January 1, 2011 onward, providing over a decade of historical data.
• Includes multiple geospatial identifiers such as `Latitude`, `Longitude`, `Ward`, `Community Area`, and `Census Tracts` for precise location analysis.
• Daily update schedule (for the period it was active) ensured regular data incorporation.

Limitations

• Dataset is historical-only and was functionally replaced in December 2018, limiting analysis of recent trends.
• Presence of duplicate requests labeled in the `Status` field (e.g., 'Open - Dup') may require filtering for accurate counts.
• Unknown total row count and sample size make it difficult to assess the dataset's statistical scope.

Provenance

Source

City of Chicago Department of Streets & Sanitation, via the data.cityofchicago.org portal.

Collection Method

Collected from the city's 311 Customer Service Requests (CSR) system for rodent baiting and rat complaints.

Time Range

From January 1, 2011, until the dataset was replaced in December 2018.

Freshness

Data updates ceased for this historical dataset; it was replaced by a new system in 2018.

Geography

City of Chicago, Illinois, USA.