With construction cranes sprouting up all over Seattle, it's easy to tell that there's a building boom, but it's not so easy to get details on the projects that are going up in your neighborhood.
Software engineer Ethan Phelps-Goodman wants to change that.
"Curiosity was what drove my initial interest in this," Phelps-Goodman said. "Just what are they building? What are they putting up in my neighborhood, what are they putting up downtown?"
We talked with him beside the big pit that's been across from Seattle City Hall for at least seven years. And he used the website he developed, seattleinprogress.com, to tell us exactly what the plan is.
"It will put up a map centered on your current location," Phelps-Goodman said. "We're here on Fourth and James, and if you click on a pin you'll see a description about the building."
And most importantly, there are pictures.
"(There are) more renderings, more descriptions of the project and then pictures of what it will look like from the street. So (it's) a real nice preview of what's coming," he told us.
Phelps-Goodman's website shows a map of Seattle with hundreds of pins marking the city's explosive growth.
He says a user is just three clicks away from detailed information, including how the public can weigh in.
He told us that his mission is to provide easily accessible information that can be used to make sure affordable housing is built along with office space and that development fits better into neighborhoods.
"The key is to get people involved in the process where there is still an opportunity to affect the outcomes of the process," Phelps-Goodman said.
Phelps-Goodman said the information on his website comes directly from city databases, and so despite the rapid growth, it should always be up to date.
As Seattle continues to grow, Phelps-Goodman hopes to make money from his app, but he says the type of information there now will always be free to the public.
Find more information at seattleinprogress.com.
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