We rolled out a new app last week which allows you to dive deep into the wackiness of dog owners, letting you see who names their dogs what and where they live. It’s really interesting and it’s just the start of more data-driven apps, allowing people to dig deeper.

Chrys Wu has a look at the site plus an interview of sorts with Ben Welsh, my co-worker and brother-in-arms with the Cubs.

Times database developer Ben Welsh says the project was a way for him to learn how to navigate through Los Angeles’ complex bureaucracy.

Welsh moved to L.A. from Washington, D.C. several months ago. “When I got here, I knew that learning how many cities make up L.A. County and how the different services get managed was going to be something I needed to get skilled at, so I thought: I need kind of a test case,” he says. The dog names database became his experiment.

The first step was to figure out which offices held the records, then to request the information in accordance with the California Public Records Act. To avoid being turned down for privacy concerns, “I made sure in my earliest communications with people, kind of the first round, to say I don’t want the address of the owner, but I do want their ZIP code,” Welsh says.