sunlightlabs/openstates — Issue #100: [iOS] Standardize Address/Phone/etc keys for Legislators
Author: grgcombs
Created: 2011-10-22 23:51:51+00:00
State: open

Trying to eek a little more usable info into the app and I'm running into an issue that certainly is a direct result of scraping from various state sites. Nevertheless, we need more uniformity for contact info in the legislator api.

Some examples of inconsistency that prove problematic:
- `+website`, `website`
- `+email_address` and `email`
- `+phone`, `office_phone`, `+business_phone`, `+capitol_phone`, `+district_phone`, `+phone_number`
- `+capital_address`, `+capitol_address`, `+district_address`, `+office_loc`, `+address`
- `+office_fax`, `+fax_number`

Here's a snapshot of these examples:

```json
[
"+capital_address": " P.O. Box 12068, Capitol Station\nAustin, TX 78711\n(512) 463-0110",
"+district_address": " 2421 W. 7th, Suite 350, Building A\nFort Worth, TX 76107\n(817) 332-3338",
"+address": "3271 E 1875 N LAYTON, UT 84040",
"+office_loc": "410 Farnum Bldg",
"email":"jsadams@utahsenate.org",
"email": "vclark123@charter.netvalerie.clark@house.ga.gov",
"+email_address": "Jeremy.Taylor@legis.state.ia.us",
"office_phone": " 404.656.0265",
"+phone": "503-986-1702"
"+district_phone": "(718) 822-2049",
"+capitol_phone": "518-455-3595",
"+phone_number": "Home (208) 684-5209",
"+business_phone": "Bus (208) 522-8100",
"+fax_number": "FAX (208) 522-1334",
"+office_fax": "517-373-9320",
"+website": "http://www.leg.state.or.us/atkinson"
]
```

Understandably, changing this could cause problems for folks that are expecting certain values, however, the current situation precludes us from including these values in the app, at least in any meaningful way.