Kingston Building Permits – Open Data API
Pricing
$3.00 / 1,000 permits
Kingston Building Permits – Open Data API
Pull building permits from the City of Kingston, ON official open data: type, status, dates, value. No street addresses or descriptions.
Building Permits for Kingston only, from the city's official open dataset (~68,600 source rows), via the ArcGIS REST API — no website scraping.
- Key fields:
permitNumber,permitType,buildingType,status,issuedDate,occupancyDate,estimatedValueCad. - Licence: Open Data Licence – City of Kingston; 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, status, issued dates and more), up to 50,000 permits per run.
- Privacy: street addresses and free-text descriptions removed; postal codes cut to FSA and coordinates rounded to ~1 km where present.
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 Kingston's official open dataset (Kingston open data, about 68,600 source rows) through the ArcGIS REST query 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 Kingston open-data portal. Use that for a one-off download. This Actor is for:
- Filters at the source: permit type, status, issued dates, 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 Kingston
- Developers and real-estate analysts tracking construction activity
- Housing researchers counting permits
What data you get
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
permitNumber | City permit number |
permitType | Permit type / class |
buildingType | Building type |
status | Permit status |
applicationDate | YYYY-MM-DD |
issuedDate | YYYY-MM-DD |
expiryDate | YYYY-MM-DD |
occupancyDate | YYYY-MM-DD (occupancy permit) |
closedDate | YYYY-MM-DD |
estimatedValueCad | Estimated construction value (CAD) |
source | Source portal |
licence | Required attribution statement and licence link |
Input
| Field | Key | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Permit type contains | permitType | e.g. Deck, Plumbing, New Construction (case-insensitive). |
| Status contains | status | e.g. Permit Issued, Permit Closed. |
| Issued on/after (YYYY-MM-DD) | issuedFrom | Optional start date. |
| Issued on/before (YYYY-MM-DD) | issuedTo | Optional end date. |
| Keyword | keyword | Server-side filter on description, type and permit number (descriptions are not returned). |
| 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:
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 Data Licence – City of Kingston. Commercial use and redistribution are allowed ("for any purpose, including for commercial purposes"). You must acknowledge the source with the statement "Contains information licensed under the Open Data Licence – City of Kingston." and, where possible, link to the licence; every record carries both. The licence gives no right to use personal information or City names, crests or logos. The dataset page adds a disclaimer: the City takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the data.
- No endorsement: this Actor is independent. It does not use City of Kingston names, crests, logos or other official symbols and does not suggest official status or City endorsement.
- Privacy: Street addresses (civic number, street name and unit) and free-text work descriptions are removed. Postal codes, where present, are cut to the first 3 characters (FSA) and coordinates are rounded to 2 decimals (about 1 km). Owner, applicant and contractor names are not exported. Records still include permit number, permit type and category, status, dates, construction value, and (where the source has them) ward, neighbourhood or building-use category. Also not exported: inspector (City staff) names, address IDs, permit fees and the project description.
Limits
- Coverage is the City of Kingston only.
- Data freshness and completeness match the Kingston 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.
- Fields can be null when the source left them blank.
FAQ
Is this scraping? No. It queries the city's public ArcGIS REST 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 Data Licence – City of Kingston, with attribution and without implying endorsement.
