City of Calgary Open Data#

Access and analyze 988+ open datasets from the City of Calgary via the Socrata SODA API. Data covers transit, environment, government, demographics, health, business, and more.

Portal: https://data.calgary.ca Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Calgary

Quick Start#

bash

# Search for datasets
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py search "traffic"

# List datasets by category
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py list --category "Environment"

# View dataset info
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py info iric-4rrc

# Fetch data (default JSON, 10 rows)
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py fetch iric-4rrc --limit 5

# Fetch with filters
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py fetch iric-4rrc --where "period='2024-01'" --select "facility_name,solar_pv_production_kwh"

# Export to CSV
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py fetch iric-4rrc --limit 100 --csv > solar.csv

# List all categories
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py categories

# View popular datasets
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py popular

# GeoJSON export (if dataset has location columns)
python3 scripts/calgary_data.py geojson c9sh-grss --limit 50

Commands Reference#

CommandDescriptionsearch <query>Search datasets by keywordlist [--category <cat>]List datasets, optionally filter by categoryinfo <dataset-id>Show dataset metadata (columns, types, row count)fetch <dataset-id>Download data rows (opts: --limit, --where, --select, --order, --csv, --json)categoriesList all categories with dataset countspopularShow most-viewed datasetsgeojson <dataset-id>Export geocoded data as GeoJSON

Query Parameters#

The fetch command supports Socrata SODA query parameters:

• --limit N — Max rows to return (default: 10)
• --where "condition" — SQL-like filter (e.g., "population > 5000")
• --select "col1,col2" — Choose specific columns
• --order "col DESC" — Sort results
• --offset N — Skip N rows (pagination)
• --csv — Output as CSV instead of JSON

Dataset IDs#

Dataset IDs are 9-character alphanumeric codes (e.g., iric-4rrc). Find them via search or list, or from the dataset URL: data.calgary.ca/dataset/{id}.

Data Sources#

All data sourced from the City of Calgary Open Data Portal (data.calgary.ca) under the Open Government Licence.

Environment Variables#

VariableRequiredDescriptionSOCRATA_APP_TOKENNoOptional Socrata app token to reduce rate limits. Works without it.All data is sourced from the City of Calgary's Open Data Portal (data.calgary.ca) and is provided under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. See references/datasets.md for a curated list of popular datasets.