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Shovels collects permit data directly from city and county jurisdictions—we don’t purchase data from third-party vendors. We gather data through relationships with local governments, integration with online permitting portals, and public records requests. This direct sourcing ensures data quality and freshness.

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Primary Collection Methods

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Direct from Jurisdictions

We collect data through:
  • Relationships with local governments
  • Integration with online permitting portals
  • Public records requests where needed

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Digital Methods

  • Jurisdiction website scraping
  • Municipal open data portal integration
  • Building department API connections

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Offline Methods

  • Calling jurisdiction offices
  • Submitting formal records requests
We get data straight from the source—we don’t purchase permit data from other vendors.

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Supplementary Sources

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Address Standardization

We cross-reference addresses against:
  • National Address Dataset (US Census)
  • Open Address dataset
  • Simple Maps
  • ESRI

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Contractor Verification

We match contractor information against:
  • Publicly available state license files
  • Business registration records

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Property Information

We enhance property data using:
  • Tax assessor records

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Why Direct Sourcing Matters

By collecting directly from jurisdictions, we:
  • Get the most current data available
  • Control data quality from the start
  • Standardize across different formats
  • Maintain consistent update schedules