The Queen Pub in Brixton

What it looks like now :(

How did that happen?
Answer:
Arthur Dent Syndrome

the plans were "on display" in the basement of the planning office, where both the lights and stairs had been removed, in an old filing cabinet locked in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of the Leopard".

Data distribution is all wrong

• Multiple badly marked up web services
• Ignores non-geographical interest
• No link to feedback

Planning Alerts tells you what's being built where you live

Sends you emails like this

• Covers nearly half the local authorities in the UK
• Has 3500+ users
• Sent nearly 40,000 alerts since launch
• 100% free service, volunteer built, no strings

Email is passive, keep an eye on what's going on in your community with little effort

How it works

• Screen scrape local authority websites
• Send out as emails
• Data relicensed under Creative Commons
• Also available via API

Simple right? No.

• Data gets published by councils, but no common format
• Needs different screen scrapers for each council
• Answer: mass decentralised data theft!

Lots of people writing little bits of code (any language welcome)

This works well, but still 80% of the effort

Think what we could do if we didn't need to beg and steal?

Not an isolated problem

• TheyWorkForYou.com
• FarmSubsidy.org
• UNDemocracy.com

end