Development Pulse

Neighborhood investment momentum tracker for Seattle, WA. Aggregates building permits, business licenses, and other municipal data to create development momentum scores.

Features

• Momentum Scoring: Combines permit activity, new business formation, and investment values into a 0-100 momentum score
• Interactive Map: Visualize momentum scores, permits, and business licenses on a map
• Time Slider: Animate through historical data to see how development patterns change
• Neighborhood Rankings: See which neighborhoods have the highest development activity
• Data Layers: Toggle between momentum heatmap, individual permits, and business licenses

Project Structure

development_pulse/
├── backend/                 # FastAPI Python backend
│   ├── api/                # API route handlers
│   ├── models/             # SQLAlchemy database models
│   ├── schemas/            # Pydantic request/response schemas
│   ├── services/           # Business logic (data ingestion, scoring)
│   ├── config.py           # Configuration management
│   ├── database.py         # Database connection
│   ├── main.py             # FastAPI application entry point
│   └── requirements.txt    # Python dependencies
│
├── frontend/               # React TypeScript frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/    # React components
│   │   ├── api.ts         # API client
│   │   ├── types.ts       # TypeScript types
│   │   └── App.tsx        # Main application
│   ├── package.json       # Node dependencies
│   └── vite.config.ts     # Vite configuration
│
└── README.md

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Node.js 18+
• npm or pnpm

Backend Setup

1. Navigate to the backend directory:

   cd backend

2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Copy the example environment file:

   cp .env.example .env

5. Start the backend server:

   python main.py

   Or with uvicorn directly:

   uvicorn main:app --reload --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

6. The API will be available at http://localhost:8000

   • API docs: http://localhost:8000/docs
   • ReDoc: http://localhost:8000/redoc

Frontend Setup

1. Navigate to the frontend directory:

   cd frontend

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Start the development server:

   npm run dev

4. Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser

Loading Data

Once both servers are running:

1. Open the app in your browser
2. Click the "Data" button in the top-left
3. Click "Ingest Permits" to load Seattle permit data (takes a few minutes)
4. Click "Ingest Licenses" to load business license data
5. Click "Calculate Scores" to compute momentum scores

The data ingestion fetches 3 years of historical data from the Seattle Open Data Portal.

API Endpoints

Momentum

• GET /api/momentum/current - Current momentum scores for all neighborhoods
• GET /api/momentum/history/{neighborhood} - Historical scores for a neighborhood
• GET /api/momentum/ranking - Neighborhoods ranked by momentum score
• GET /api/momentum/hot-spots - High-momentum neighborhoods

Permits

• GET /api/permits - List permits with pagination
• GET /api/permits/geojson - Permits as GeoJSON for map display
• GET /api/permits/clusters - Aggregated permit data by neighborhood
• GET /api/permits/stats - Permit statistics

Licenses

• GET /api/licenses - List business licenses with pagination
• GET /api/licenses/geojson - Licenses as GeoJSON for map display
• GET /api/licenses/stats - License statistics

Neighborhoods

• GET /api/neighborhoods - List all Seattle neighborhoods
• GET /api/neighborhoods/boundaries - Neighborhood boundaries as GeoJSON

Data Ingestion

• POST /api/ingest/permits - Trigger permit data ingestion
• POST /api/ingest/licenses - Trigger license data ingestion
• POST /api/ingest/calculate-scores - Calculate momentum scores
• GET /api/ingest/status - Current data ingestion status

Momentum Score Calculation

The momentum score (0-100) is a weighted combination of:

Component	Weight	Description
Permit Score	40%	Based on number of building permits
Business Score	30%	Based on new business licenses
Investment Score	30%	Based on total permit values

Each component is normalized using logarithmic scaling to handle the wide range of values across neighborhoods.

Data Sources

• Building Permits: Seattle Open Data Portal
• Business Licenses: Seattle Open Data Portal

Tech Stack

Backend

• FastAPI - Modern Python web framework
• SQLAlchemy - Database ORM
• SQLite - Database (can swap for PostgreSQL/PostGIS)
• Pydantic - Data validation

Frontend

• React 18 - UI framework
• TypeScript - Type safety
• Vite - Build tool
• react-map-gl - Mapbox GL JS wrapper
• TanStack Query - Data fetching
• Tailwind CSS - Styling
• Recharts - Charts

Future Enhancements

• Add historical comparison view
• Implement noise/soundscape layer
• Add 311 complaint data
• Restaurant/retail trend analysis
• Export reports as PDF
• User accounts and saved areas
• Email alerts for neighborhood changes

License

MIT