Integrations and export

Take the atlas into Google Earth, Google Maps, ArcGIS, QGIS, a spreadsheet or a notebook. Everything below is a static file on this site, regenerated on each publish; nothing needs a key.

Google Earth

Open retrofit-atlas-live.kml once in Google Earth Pro or Earth on the web (File → Import, or drag it in): it is a network link that refreshes the full layer from this site every day. sites.kml is the static copy. Every record page has a Google Earth link to the site at 1,200 m, and its own one-placemark KML.

Google Maps and Street View

Every record links to the point in Google Maps, satellite view and Street View. For Google My Maps: import sites.csv (columns lat, lon, name); My Maps imports up to 2,000 rows per layer, so filter the CSV first.

ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro

In Map Viewer choose Add → Add layer from URL, paste https://retrofitatlas.org/data/sites.geojson and pick GeoJSON; the layer carries name, place, strategy, status, years, acres, tier and the page URL as attributes. In ArcGIS Pro use Add Data → Data From Path with the same URL, or convert with the JSON To Features tool. The source map this atlas grows from is the authors' Retrofitting Suburbia web map. Each record also links to the ArcGIS Map Viewer centred on the site.

QGIS, Felt, kepler.gl, Observable

All accept the GeoJSON URL directly (Layer → Add Layer → Add Vector Layer → Protocol HTTP in QGIS). Per-table CSVs join on site.id.

Spreadsheets and notebooks

=IMPORTDATA("https://retrofitatlas.org/data/sites.csv") in Google Sheets; pandas.read_csv in Python; or download atlas.sqlite for SQL. The data page has the codebook.

Feeds and automation

The RSS feed lists recently changed records. The JSON API answers queries (by state, element, radius, owner) and /api/v1/changes?since= feeds agents and alerts; the static files are regenerated on every publish. Each record has a stable id and a JSON file at /data/records/<id>.json.

How the data is maintained

Staffbox AI agents keep the records moving: a news watcher runs every six hours and files items to a review queue; extraction workers read public pages and fill fields only with a verbatim quote attached; assessment workers write the per-site assessment from the record alone; a person reviews before anything is marked verified. Corrections and link-backs go through the contribute page.

Licence undecided: research use only until terms are agreed with the authors. Wikipedia excerpts CC BY-SA 4.0; photos per their Wikimedia Commons credit.