By now you may have read that EveryBlock, a Knight Foundation-funded project, has released its source code to the public (here's a browsable version). Getting a chance to look under the hood is a great opportunity to see how other folks tackle some of the tasks we all face, or are likely to.

The first thing to note is that the code has the GPL license, which means that if you incorporate any of it into an application you're building and then release that code, it will need to be under the terms of the GPL as well. You can still play with, run and even alter the EveryBlock code without releasing it.

So what's in there? A lot of people may be checking out the site's publishing system, but for CAR folks, I think the most interesting aspect is the code that performs address extraction from text. These natural language processing utilities already have been turned into their own Web utility where you can test the code out against articles, reports or other text.

Map makers may be more eager to look at how EveryBlock constructs its maps using open-source tools, and those files are available as well.

Even if you aren't doing address matching or don't know Python, looking at code is a great way to see how certain tasks are accomplished and whether a language might make sense for you to try.