How it works

Towndex works by:

1. extracting and synthesizing information from local government documents
2. integrating information from multiple documents
3. generating a browsable and searchable website using that information

1. Extraction and synthesis

Towndex extracts the content of a document and uses a large language model to synthesize a schema.org-based knowledge graph reflecting document contents.

Document (excerpt)

REPORTS:
Town Clerk: Rebecca Del Gaizo
Ms. Del Gaizo gave the report for the month of December. $7,441.77 will be remitted to the
Supervisor's office. Rounding numbers, recycling fees accounted for $6,022, Community Center
fees for $800.00, Dog License fees for $220.00 and $399.00 in miscellaneous fees making up the
balance. The Community Center had 4 new reservations. Our share of $1,330.59 in DEC sales
was $24.41. Motion to accept the report was made by Councilman Cipperly and seconded by
Councilman Balistreri. Unanimously approved. A copy of the written report is on file in the
Town Clerk's Office.

Synthesized knowledge graph (excerpt)

<http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report> a schema:Report;
    schema:name "Town Clerk Report";
    schema:description "Report for December with $7,441.77 remitted to the Supervisor's office.";
    schema:subjectOf <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports>;
    schema:about <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report/monetary-amount/7441-77>;
    schema:author <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/person/rebecca-del-gaizo>.

2. Integration

Towndex coalesces the synthesized knowledge graphs derived from different documents into a single knowledge graph. Events, reports, and other transient entities are identified within the namespaces of documents, while organizations, people, places, and other permanent entities have identifiers in a global namespace.

<https://townofbrunswick.org/files/TBMeetingMinutes20250109.pdf> {
    <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report> a schema:Report;
        schema:name "Town Clerk Report";
        schema:description "Report for December with $7,441.77 remitted to the Supervisor's office.";
        schema:subjectOf <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports>;
        schema:about <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/01/09/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report/monetary-amount/7441-77>;
        schema:author <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/person/rebecca-del-gaizo>.
}

<https://townofbrunswick.org/files/TBMeetingMinutes20250213.pdf> {
    <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/02/13/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report> a schema:Report;
        schema:name "Town Clerk Report";
        schema:subjectOf <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/02/13/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports>;
        schema:description "Report for the month of January with various fees collected and reservations made.";
        schema:about <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/02/13/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report/monetary-amount/7450-17>, <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/02/13/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report/quantitative-value/community-center-reservations>, <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/event/2025/02/13/town-of-brunswick-regular-town-board-meeting/event/reports/report/town-clerk-report/quantitative-value/pavilion-events>;
        schema:author <http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/person/rebecca-del-gaizo>.
}

<http://purl.org/towndex/instance/us/ny/brunswick/person/rebecca-del-gaizo> a schema:Person;
    schema:name "Rebecca Del Gaizo".

3. Site generation

Finally, Towndex generates a static website from the integrated knowledge graph using Next.js. The website can be deployed to any static file host, such as GitHub Pages (free) or Amazon S3 (low cost).