Getting Started with laOpenData

Christian Martinez

knitr::opts_chunk$set(warning = FALSE, message = FALSE)
library(laOpenData)
library(ggplot2)
library(dplyr)
#> Warning: package 'dplyr' was built under R version 4.5.2
#> 
#> Attaching package: 'dplyr'
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':
#> 
#>     filter, lag
#> The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
#> 
#>     intersect, setdiff, setequal, union

Introduction

Welcome to the laOpenData package, an R package dedicated to helping R users connect to the Los Angeles Open Data Portal!

The laOpenData package provides a streamlined interface for accessing Los Angeles’ vast open data resources. It connects directly to official City of Los Angeles open data portals, including datasets hosted across Socrata-powered city domains, helping users bridge the gap between raw city APIs and tidy data analysis. This package is part of a broader ecosystem of open data tools designed to provide a consistent interface across cities. It does this in two ways:

The la_pull_dataset() function

The primary way to pull data in this package is the la_pull_dataset() function, which works in tandem with la_list_datasets(). You do not need to know anything about API keys or authentication.

The first step would be to call the la_list_datasets() to see what datasets are in the list and available to use in the la_pull_dataset() function. This provides information for thousands of datasets found on the portal.

la_list_datasets() |> head()
#> # A tibble: 6 × 96
#>   key   id    name  attribution attributionLink category createdAt dataUpdatedAt
#>   <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>       <chr>           <chr>    <chr>     <chr>        
#> 1 my_l… 2cy6… MyLA… City of Lo… https://myla31… City In… 2026-01-… 2026-04-13T0…
#> 2 city… rwwd… City… Youth Deve… https://ydd.la… <NA>     2026-01-… 2026-01-09T2…
#> 3 lahd… cr8f… LAHD… Los Angele… <NA>            Communi… 2025-11-… 2025-12-29T1…
#> 4 x202… mt59… 2025… <NA>        <NA>            Housing… 2025-09-… 2026-01-27T2…
#> 5 lahd… ci3m… LAHD… <NA>        <NA>            Communi… 2025-09-… 2025-09-11T1…
#> 6 lahd… n9x9… LAHD… Los Angele… <NA>            Communi… 2025-09-… 2025-09-11T2…
#> # ℹ 88 more variables: dataUri <chr>, description <chr>, domain <chr>,
#> #   externalId <lgl>, hideFromCatalog <lgl>, hideFromDataJson <lgl>,
#> #   license <chr>, metadataUpdatedAt <chr>, provenance <chr>, updatedAt <chr>,
#> #   webUri <chr>, approvals <list>, tags <list>,
#> #   `customFields.Committed Update Frequency.Refresh rate` <chr>,
#> #   `customFields.Location Specified.Does this data have a Location column? (Yes or No)` <chr>,
#> #   `customFields.Location Specified.What geographic unit is the data collected?` <chr>, …

The output includes columns such as the dataset title, description, and link to the source. The most important fields are the dataset key and id. You need either in order to use the la_pull_dataset() function. You can put either the key value or id value into the dataset = filter inside of la_pull_dataset().

For instance, if we want to pull the dataset Building and Safety - Vacant Building Abatement, we can use either of the methods below:

la_building_safety_vacant <- la_pull_dataset(
  dataset = "q3ak-s5hy", limit = 2, timeout_sec = 90)

la_building_safety_vacant <- la_pull_dataset(
  dataset = "building_and_safety_vacant_building_abatement", limit = 2, timeout_sec = 90)

No matter if we put the id or the key as the value for dataset =, we successfully get the data!

The la_any_dataset() function

The easiest workflow is to use la_list_datasets() together with la_pull_dataset().

In the event that you have a particular dataset you want to use in R that is not in the list, you can use the la_any_dataset(). The only requirement is the dataset’s API endpoint (a URL provided by the Los Angeles Open Data portal). Here are the steps to get it:

  1. On the Los Angeles Open Data Portal, go to the dataset you want to work with.
  2. Click on “Export” (next to the actions button on the right hand side).
  3. Click on “API Endpoint”.
  4. Click on “SODA2” for “Version”.
  5. Copy the API Endpoint.

Below is an example of how to use the la_any_dataset() once the API endpoint has been discovered, that will pull the same data as the la_pull_dataset() example:

la_motor_vehicle_collisions_data <- la_any_dataset(json_link = "https://data.lacity.org/resource/q3ak-s5hy.json", limit = 2)

Rule of Thumb

While both functions provide access to Los Angeles Open Data, they serve slightly different purposes.

In general:

Together, these functions allow users to either quickly access the datasets or flexibly query any dataset available on the Los Angeles Open Data portal.

Real World Example

Los Angeles has a lot of people, and just as many businesses, and the list of active businesses in LA is contained in the dataset, found here. In R, the laOpenData package can be used to pull this data directly.

By using the la_pull_dataset() function, we can gather information on these businesses, and filter based upon any of the columns inside the dataset.

Let’s take an example of 3 requests that occur in the actual city of Los Angeles. The la_pull_dataset() function can filter based off any of the columns in the dataset. To filter, we add filters = list() and put whatever filters we would like inside. From our colnames call before, we know that there is a column called “city” which we can use to accomplish this.


la_businesses <- la_pull_dataset(dataset = "6rrh-rzua",limit = 3, timeout_sec = 90, filters = list(city = "LOS ANGELES"))
la_businesses
#> # A tibble: 3 × 16
#>   location_account  business_name              street_address     city  zip_code
#>   <chr>             <chr>                      <chr>              <chr> <chr>   
#> 1 0003301266-0001-1 WEST OF HOLLYWOOD, INC.    2608 AIKEN AVENUE  LOS … 90064-3…
#> 2 0002772430-0001-9 GISELLE LUZA STUDIO, LLC   5500 HOLLYWOOD BL… LOS … 90028-6…
#> 3 0002173704-0001-5 ATLANTIC RECOVERY SERVICES 5306 N FIGUEROA S… LOS … 90042-4…
#> # ℹ 11 more variables: location_description <chr>, mailing_address <chr>,
#> #   mailing_city <chr>, mailing_zip_code <chr>, naics <dbl>,
#> #   primary_naics_description <chr>, council_district <dbl>,
#> #   location_start_date <dttm>, location_1_latitude <dbl>,
#> #   location_1_longitude <dbl>, location_1_human_address <chr>

# Checking to see the filtering worked
la_businesses |>
  distinct(city)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 1
#>   city       
#>   <chr>      
#> 1 LOS ANGELES

Success! From calling the la_businesses dataset we see there are only 3 rows of data, and from the distinct() call we see the only location featured in our dataset is LOS ANGELES.

One of the strongest qualities this function has is its ability to filter based off of multiple columns. Let’s put everything together and get a dataset of 50 businesses that occur in LOS ANGELES in council district 8.

# Creating the dataset
la_businesses_8 <- la_pull_dataset(dataset = "6rrh-rzua", limit = 50, timeout_sec = 90, filters = list(city = "LOS ANGELES", council_district = 8))

# Calling head of our new dataset
la_businesses_8 |>
  slice_head(n = 6)
#> # A tibble: 6 × 17
#>   location_account  business_name         dba_name street_address city  zip_code
#>   <chr>             <chr>                 <chr>    <chr>          <chr> <chr>   
#> 1 0000688586-0001-8 G & P RECYCLING INC   G & P R… 1329 W JEFFER… LOS … 90007-3…
#> 2 0000609648-0002-5 LARRY & DARNELLA SCA… L AND D… 6715 2ND AVEN… LOS … 90043-4…
#> 3 0002865522-0001-3 DOLORES G AMAYA       <NA>     1601 W 46TH S… LOS … 90062-1…
#> 4 0002983638-0001-6 ANTHONY CANTERO       THE MEN… 4427 S NORMAN… LOS … 90037-2…
#> 5 0002109702-0001-5 FRANCISCO DIAZ        <NA>     1228 W 25TH S… LOS … 90007-1…
#> 6 0002277536-0001-3 SAUNDRA BISHOP TRUST  <NA>     627 W IMPERIA… LOS … 90044-4…
#> # ℹ 11 more variables: location_description <chr>, mailing_address <chr>,
#> #   mailing_city <chr>, mailing_zip_code <chr>, naics <dbl>,
#> #   primary_naics_description <chr>, council_district <dbl>,
#> #   location_start_date <dttm>, location_1_latitude <dbl>,
#> #   location_1_longitude <dbl>, location_1_human_address <chr>

# Quick check to make sure our filtering worked
la_businesses_8 |>
  summarize(rows = n())
#> # A tibble: 1 × 1
#>    rows
#>   <int>
#> 1    50

la_businesses_8 |>
  distinct(city)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 1
#>   city       
#>   <chr>      
#> 1 LOS ANGELES

la_businesses_8 |>
  distinct(council_district)
#> # A tibble: 1 × 1
#>   council_district
#>              <dbl>
#> 1                8

We successfully created our dataset that contains 50 requests regarding the businesses in district 8 of LA.

Mini analysis

Now that we have successfully pulled the data and have it in R, let’s do a mini analysis on using the primary_naics_description column, to figure out what are the main types of businesses

To do this, we will create a bar graph of the business types.

# Visualizing the distribution, ordered by frequency
la_businesses_8 |>
  count(primary_naics_description) |>
  ggplot(aes(
    x = n,
    y = reorder(primary_naics_description, n)
  )) +
  geom_col(fill = "steelblue") +
  theme_minimal() +
  labs(
    title = "Top 50 Business Types in District 8 of LA",
    x = "Number of Businesses",
    y = "Business Type"
  )
Bar chart showing the frequency of business types in LA in district 8.

Bar chart showing the frequency of business types in LA in district 8.

This graph shows us not only which businesses are in the area, but how many of each there are.

Summary

The laOpenData package serves as a robust interface for the Los Angeles Open Data portal, streamlining the path from raw city APIs to actionable insights. By abstracting the complexities of data acquisition—such as pagination, type-casting, and complex filtering—it allows users to focus on analysis rather than data engineering.

As demonstrated in this vignette, the package provides a seamless workflow for targeted data retrieval, automated filtering, and rapid visualization.

How to Cite

If you use this package for research or educational purposes, please cite it as follows:

Martinez C (2026). laOpenData: Convenient Access to Los Angeles Open Data API Endpoints. R package version 0.1.0, https://martinezc1.github.io/laOpenData/.