4 ms·

Show HN: I made a sexier tax parcel map for my hometown

14 points by michaelcolenso 12y ago

gdilla 12y ago
nicely done! Zillow or trulia could benefit from this improved UI - married with image content, it'd be a pretty hot tool.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Thanks! I think it's pretty far from being something Zillow or Trulia worthy, but it was fun to build.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
michaelcolenso 12y ago
Here's the github repo if anyone is interested. https://github.com/michaelcolenso/tcplatmap https://github.com/michaelcolenso/tcplatmap I used d3.js, and data from an ArcGIS REST endpoint that was linked on the City Assessor's website. http://arcserver.tclp.org/arcgis/rest/services/City/CityParcelViewer/MapServer/layers http://arcserver.tclp.org/arcgis/rest/services/City/CityParc...
freehunter 12y ago
What are the odds of finding a TC hacker around here? I vacation there at least once a year and every time I consider moving there but I always figured I would never find a tech job in Traverse City.
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  I got a remote gig so I could move back here after ~15 years on the west coast. You probably wouldn't find a suitable tech job here, FWIW.
- cschmidt 12y ago
  I'm going to Traverse City tomorrow on vacation. I did a double take when I saw the map.
  - michaelcolenso 12y ago
    It's a lovely place, really. On a map or in person. Enjoy your vacation.
Methusalah 12y ago
Sexier than what? I work with a lot of GIS software and this is incredibly basic.
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Yep. It's way basic, and not terribly useful other than as a novelty site. But it was fun to make. So that's good.
mkr-hn 12y ago
It's sexier than something like QPublic, but much less functional. For example: http://qpublic7.qpublic.net/qpmap4/map.php?county=ga_barrow&layers=parcels+roads+lakes http://qpublic7.qpublic.net/qpmap4/map.php?county=ga_barrow&... Ugly, but it's easy to get at all the data.
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Agreed. It's way less functional than the ArcGIS server that's maintained by the municipality. It was a weekend project to play with d3, mostly. There's lots wrong with the site as it is, but it's a journey, right? Thanks for the feedback.
rasz_pl 12y ago
takes 100% cpu - main loop keeps querying for new property data even when the mouse doesnt move
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Jeezers. I'll take a look at that, I guess. Thanks for the feedback!
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  So I believe I fixed it. I think it was b/c the socket.io server was emitting on the 'io' object on every db query, and it should have been emitting on the 'socket'. I think. It was definitely all jacked up, though. Thanks so much for checking it out...
cmsj 12y ago
No part of "tax parcel map" sounds even remotely sexy to me, so you're setting a pretty low bar ;)
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  I know, right? "Sexy Taxes" isn't really a thing.
Duhveed 12y ago
Nevermind the folks complaining that ESRI's years-old template site is more functional than what you built in a few days. I've built a few gis sites for municipalities and I think it's pretty great.
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Thanks! I appreciate the positive vibes. My favorite trick I learned was how to use the GDAL tools (ogr2ogr) plus Topojson to fetch the data (the geometry plus the sales db exposed on the arcGis REST endpoint) and convert it to geoJSON in order to deal with it via D3. Pretty rewarding to finally get something to project properly after spending roughly eleventeen hours trial and erroring on the command line with those (very powerful) tools... It was super fun to make. Thanks for checking it out.
Doctor_Fegg 12y ago
Very pretty! You need to add on-map attribution to Stamen (whose map tiles you're using) and to OpenStreetMap (whose data they're based on).
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  Thanks! I appreciate the heads up on the attribution...I knew that, and I actually included it in the code where I add the leaflet tile layer, but I guess I need to include a leaflet control to display the attribution. Here's the code I'm using: https://gist.github.com/michaelcolenso/e89bc327cb31e7f0b6d9 https://gist.github.com/michaelcolenso/e89bc327cb31e7f0b6d9
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  I fixed the attribution. It was being covered up by the footer. Thanks for checking it out. http://iswordfight.com/ http://iswordfight.com/
c0nfused 12y ago
It's too bad the dairy lodge doesn't quite show up so well on google maps, but at least I know what it's assessed value is. Turns out that if you compare it to the surrounding properties, having a very phallic sign does not increase your property values. For those of you who don't have family in the area: http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/signs/dairylodge2s.jpg http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/signs/dairylodge2s....
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  We love the Dairy Lodge! The other iconic ice cream place in town is Bardon's Wonder Freeze, and they have Sputnik on their roof. http://i.imgur.com/XdF5QdE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/XdF5QdE.jpg So that's awesome, too.

nicely done! Zillow or trulia could benefit from this improved UI - married with image content, it'd be a pretty hot tool.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
michaelcolenso 12y ago
Thanks! I think it's pretty far from being something Zillow or Trulia worthy, but it was fun to build.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

michaelcolenso 12y ago

Here's the github repo if anyone is interested. https://github.com/michaelcolenso/tcplatmap https://github.com/michaelcolenso/tcplatmap I used d3.js, and data from an ArcGIS REST endpoint that was linked on the City Assessor's website. http://arcserver.tclp.org/arcgis/rest/services/City/CityParcelViewer/MapServer/layers http://arcserver.tclp.org/arcgis/rest/services/City/CityParc...

freehunter 12y ago

What are the odds of finding a TC hacker around here? I vacation there at least once a year and every time I consider moving there but I always figured I would never find a tech job in Traverse City.

michaelcolenso 12y ago
I got a remote gig so I could move back here after ~15 years on the west coast. You probably wouldn't find a suitable tech job here, FWIW.
cschmidt 12y ago
I'm going to Traverse City tomorrow on vacation. I did a double take when I saw the map.
- michaelcolenso 12y ago
  It's a lovely place, really. On a map or in person. Enjoy your vacation.

Methusalah 12y ago

Sexier than what? I work with a lot of GIS software and this is incredibly basic.

michaelcolenso 12y ago
Yep. It's way basic, and not terribly useful other than as a novelty site. But it was fun to make. So that's good.

mkr-hn 12y ago

It's sexier than something like QPublic, but much less functional. For example: http://qpublic7.qpublic.net/qpmap4/map.php?county=ga_barrow&layers=parcels+roads+lakes http://qpublic7.qpublic.net/qpmap4/map.php?county=ga_barrow&... Ugly, but it's easy to get at all the data.

michaelcolenso 12y ago
Agreed. It's way less functional than the ArcGIS server that's maintained by the municipality. It was a weekend project to play with d3, mostly. There's lots wrong with the site as it is, but it's a journey, right? Thanks for the feedback.

rasz_pl 12y ago

takes 100% cpu - main loop keeps querying for new property data even when the mouse doesnt move

michaelcolenso 12y ago
Jeezers. I'll take a look at that, I guess. Thanks for the feedback!
michaelcolenso 12y ago
So I believe I fixed it. I think it was b/c the socket.io server was emitting on the 'io' object on every db query, and it should have been emitting on the 'socket'. I think. It was definitely all jacked up, though. Thanks so much for checking it out...

cmsj 12y ago

No part of "tax parcel map" sounds even remotely sexy to me, so you're setting a pretty low bar ;)

michaelcolenso 12y ago
I know, right? "Sexy Taxes" isn't really a thing.

Duhveed 12y ago

Nevermind the folks complaining that ESRI's years-old template site is more functional than what you built in a few days. I've built a few gis sites for municipalities and I think it's pretty great.

michaelcolenso 12y ago
Thanks! I appreciate the positive vibes. My favorite trick I learned was how to use the GDAL tools (ogr2ogr) plus Topojson to fetch the data (the geometry plus the sales db exposed on the arcGis REST endpoint) and convert it to geoJSON in order to deal with it via D3. Pretty rewarding to finally get something to project properly after spending roughly eleventeen hours trial and erroring on the command line with those (very powerful) tools... It was super fun to make. Thanks for checking it out.

Doctor_Fegg 12y ago

Very pretty! You need to add on-map attribution to Stamen (whose map tiles you're using) and to OpenStreetMap (whose data they're based on).

michaelcolenso 12y ago
Thanks! I appreciate the heads up on the attribution...I knew that, and I actually included it in the code where I add the leaflet tile layer, but I guess I need to include a leaflet control to display the attribution. Here's the code I'm using: https://gist.github.com/michaelcolenso/e89bc327cb31e7f0b6d9 https://gist.github.com/michaelcolenso/e89bc327cb31e7f0b6d9
michaelcolenso 12y ago
I fixed the attribution. It was being covered up by the footer. Thanks for checking it out. http://iswordfight.com/ http://iswordfight.com/

c0nfused 12y ago

It's too bad the dairy lodge doesn't quite show up so well on google maps, but at least I know what it's assessed value is. Turns out that if you compare it to the surrounding properties, having a very phallic sign does not increase your property values. For those of you who don't have family in the area: http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/signs/dairylodge2s.jpg http://www.interestingideas.com/roadside/signs/dairylodge2s....

michaelcolenso 12y ago
We love the Dairy Lodge! The other iconic ice cream place in town is Bardon's Wonder Freeze, and they have Sputnik on their roof. http://i.imgur.com/XdF5QdE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/XdF5QdE.jpg So that's awesome, too.