Introducing the SF Government Graph
The first complete map of San Francisco's government
Update: SF Gov Graph v2 is now live.
Goverment is a miraculous, complex technology and if we want it to work better, we need to act like it. So starting now, we’re moving past the days where almost nobody outside or inside government even knows how much government there actually is. In this new paradigm, we need the right tools for the job. Here’s one of them.
Introducing the SF Government Graph - the first complete map of San Francisco’s government:
How to Use the Graph
The first and most important use of this graph is to catalog everything there is in government, and to map the relationships between them. Entities are categorzied by type like Commission or Department and linked by relationsips like appoints or oversees. Crucially, every entity is linked to the legal source enabling it.
You can also search for entities you’re interested in, and you can select any node to find more information and to highlight the nodes it’s connected to:
How We Got Here
It’s worth noting how quickly the world can improve. In July of 2023, the San Francisco city government didn’t even have an org chart. So I made one. Until June of 2024, the San Francisco city government didn’t have a complete list of entities. So I made one!1 Now I’m bringing that list to life.
Where We’re Going
Updates in the near future will have two board themes:
Improve what we have: add richer data to entities and relationships, enhance with helpful descriptions and summaries, improve data visualization and usability.
Look into the future: model potential changes to the structure of government like ballot measures and other laws.
How You Can Help
Feedback of all kinds is highly appreciated.2 If you have a particular use case in mind, I want to hear about it!
I’m looking to fund the next phase of development. If you’re interested in supporting an era of governance unmatched since the founding, reach out: michael@civlab.org.
Government is not yet used to thinking in systems. Many excellent public servants have compiled partial lists which were instrumental in creating SFG (in particular, the City Attorney’s Office and the Civil Grand Jury).
If you love it, thanks! If not, blame Claude - he wrote it! :)
Great work and important context for getting control of the beast. I would suggest that in addition to using this first for appropriate shock-value, then for identifying opportunities for simplification, to reach for ideas to create incentives and penalties to continuously drive simplification--so we retreat from the insanity and then do not march right back into it.