Edmonton Building Permits – Open Data API

Building Permits for Edmonton only, from the city's official open dataset (~247,700 source rows), via the Socrata SODA API — no website scraping.

• Key fields: permitNumber, permitType, buildingType, workType, issuedDate, estimatedValueCad, floorArea, unitsCreated, neighbourhood, zoning.
• Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton; every record carries the required credit and licence link.
• Output: structured JSON, or CSV / Excel from the Apify dataset. Filters run at the source (type, work type, issued dates, minimum value, keyword), up to 50,000 permits per run.
• Privacy: street addresses and free-text descriptions removed; coordinates rounded to ~1 km.

Why not build it yourself? No ArcGIS/Socrata paging, field mapping, date normalising or de-duplication to write and maintain. You get one tidy row per permit with consistent field names and ISO dates.

Price: $0.003 per result (three-tenths of a cent; 1,000 results = $3.00), no start fee. You pay only for permits returned.

What it does

This Actor reads building permits from the City of Edmonton's official open dataset (Edmonton open data, about 247,700 source rows) through the Socrata SODA API. It does not scrape any website.

Rows are deduplicated so you get one record per permit number.

Free open data vs. this Actor

The dataset is free on the Edmonton open-data portal. Use that for a one-off download. This Actor is for:

• Filters at the source: permit type, issued dates, minimum value, keyword
• Clean JSON: ISO dates, consistent field names, one row per permit
• Privacy trimming: no street addresses, no free-text descriptions, no names
• Scheduled runs and Apify API / Sheets / Make / Zapier exports

Who it's for

• Contractors and suppliers (windows, HVAC, roofing, landscaping) watching new work in Edmonton
• Developers and real-estate analysts tracking construction activity
• Housing researchers counting permits and new units

What data you get

Field	Meaning
permitNumber	Portal row ID (the source permit_number column is empty)
permitType	Permit type / class
buildingType	Building type
workType	Kind of work
issuedDate	YYYY-MM-DD
permitDate	YYYY-MM-DD (permit date)
occupancyDate	YYYY-MM-DD (occupancy permit)
estimatedValueCad	Estimated construction value (CAD)
floorArea	Floor area (source units)
unitsCreated	Dwelling units created
zoning	Zoning code
neighbourhoodNumber	Neighbourhood number
neighbourhood	Neighbourhood
bia	Business improvement area
latitude	Latitude, rounded to 2 decimals (about 1 km)
longitude	Longitude, rounded to 2 decimals (about 1 km)
futureDate	True if the issue date is after today
source	Source portal
licence	Required attribution and licence link

Input

Field	Key	Notes
Permit type contains	permitType	e.g. Home Improvement, Commercial Final, House (case-insensitive).
Work type contains	workType	e.g. (01) New, (03) Exterior Alterations.
Issued on/after (YYYY-MM-DD)	issuedFrom	Optional start date.
Issued on/before (YYYY-MM-DD)	issuedTo	Optional end date.
Minimum construction value (CAD)	minValue	Optional.
Keyword	keyword	Server-side filter on permit type, class/work type and permit number.
Max permits	maxItems	Stop after this many permits.

Bad dates or an inverted date range fail before any API call, with a clear error.

Example input:

{"permitType": "Home Improvement", "issuedFrom": "2025-01-01", "maxItems": 200, "minValue": 1000000}

Pricing

Pay per result: you are charged only for permits returned (one result = one permit). $0.003 per result (three-tenths of a cent), no start fee.

Licence and privacy

• Licence: Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton. Reuse, including commercial use, is allowed. Every record includes the required credit and a link to the licence terms.
• No endorsement: this Actor is independent. It does not use Edmonton names or logos as branding and does not imply municipal endorsement.
• Privacy: The output is reduced, not anonymous: permit numbers can be looked up in City records and may be tied to a property, and a permit can still relate to an identifiable homeowner. Street addresses (civic number, street name and unit) and free-text work descriptions are removed. Coordinates are rounded to 2 decimals (about 1 km). Owner, applicant and contractor names are not exported. Records still include the portal row ID, permit type and category, dates, construction value, units added, floor area, zoning and neighbourhood. Also not exported: the free-text job description, legal descriptions (plan, block, lot) and the address/location columns (the source has no name fields). permitNumber is the portal's row ID because the source permit_number column is empty.

Limits

• Coverage is the City of Edmonton only.
• Data freshness and completeness match the Edmonton open-data feed. This Actor does not add or correct permits.
• Max 50,000 permits per run. Pages of 1,000 with a 1 s pause between pages (the portal's robots.txt asks for a 1 s crawl delay).
• Fields can be null when the source left them blank.

FAQ

Is this scraping? No. It queries the city's public Socrata (SODA) open-data API.

Does it include owner or applicant names or addresses? No. Street addresses, names and descriptions are removed, but the data is reduced, not anonymous: a permit number can be looked up in City records and may relate to a specific property.

Can I use it commercially? Yes, under the Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton, with attribution and without implying endorsement.