Street misspellings and misformattings
Chicagotows.org retrieves its tow data from a data feed in which street names are commonly misspelled or otherwise erroneous. For example, a tow on Roosevelt Rd. may come across as "Rossevelt."
Our system attempts to correct common misspellings automatically, not only to correct data for the sake of being correct, but also because there is value in associating a tow with the database record of the street on which it took place. If a tow is associated with its street in our database, our system will automatically create links on both the street and tow pages.
Sometimes our system cannot resolve the street name in the source feed. Here are a few examples:
- 45500 N. Broadway is ambiguous, because 45500 N. isn't a valid Chicago address and the data suggests either 4500 N. or 5500 N., both of which are valid addresses.
- 4800 N. Kidzie is ambiguous, because Kidzie isn't a valid Chicago street name, and it could be a one-letter misspelling of Kedzie Ave. or Kinzie St..
- 1300 S. Canalvelt is unresolvable, because that street doesn't exist.
In these cases, our system displays the raw address provided in the data feed, with a link back to this explanation.
As for the problem of street-name misspellings, we've attempted to automate spelling correction. Each time our system encounters a street that doesn't exist in our streets list, the system checks the list on this page for any possible misspellings.
This list is updated by hand whenever a newly misspelled street is found in the feed.