2nd City Zoning

January 18, 2013 8:36 AM

2nd City Zoning
Interested in the Chicago zoning ordinance? No? Well then, how about Sim City 2000, the classic computer game cherished by millions? You love it? Well have we got an app for you!

2nd City Zoning is a searchable, interactive map that lets you:

• find out how your building is zoned
• learn where to locate your business
• explore zoning patterns throughout the city
• relive your nerdy urban planning childhood

To make Chicago's zoning code digestible by humans, we took inspiration from one of our favorite games: Sim City 2000. It started with just the color scheme: green for residential, blue for commercial and yellow for industrial (this oversimplifies things a bit, read the full story). From there we got a little carried away. Graphics, sounds, music, oh my.

In addition to being a fun little way to explore Chicago's urban fabric, we decoded part of the City's 2004 zoning ordinance into a useful lookup table and definitions list.

Oh yah, this project is entirely open source and built with open data.

If you have a question or something looks wrong report an issue on Github.

Role: developer

posted by kakarott999 (1 comment total)

Haha, this is the greatest thing ever. I recently found myself looking up arcane zoning laws and zones for interest and thinking of Sim City.
posted by xorry at 6:11 PM on January 18, 2013