diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bee8a64..c18dd8d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__pycache__
+__pycache__/
diff --git a/population.py b/population.py
index ce8376d..72784e0 100644
--- a/population.py
+++ b/population.py
@@ -1,16 +1,37 @@
+from util.webapi import get_json, parse_query
+import numpy as np
+
+
 class Person:
-  def __init__(self, age, income, gender):
-    self.age = age
-    self.income = income
-    self.gender = gender
-    self.household = 0
+    def __init__(self, age, income, gender):
+        self.age = age
+        self.income = income
+        self.gender = gender
+        self.household = 0
+
 
 class UrbanActor:
-  def __init__(self, person):
-    self.demographic = {}
-    self.demographic.update(person.__dict__)
+    def __init__(self, person):
+        self.demographic = {}
+        self.demographic.update(person.__dict__)
+
 
 def generate(n, config):
-  print("-- GENERATE POPULATION --")
-  p = Person(23, 50000, 'male')
-  ua = UrbanActor(p)
+    print("-- GENERATE POPULATION --")
+    p = Person(23, 50000, 'male')
+    ua = UrbanActor(p)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    # cols = ["PWGTP", "COW", "AGEP"]
+    # url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2018/acs/acs5/pums"
+    # query = {
+    #     "get": cols,
+    #     "ucgid": "7950000US4500103"
+    # }
+
+    url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2018/acs/acs1/pums?get=PWGTP,POWPUMA,AGEP,JWRIP,SEX,JWAP,JWDP&ucgid=7950000US3703001,7950000US3703002"
+    res = get_json(url, {})
+
+    data = np.array(res)[1:]
+    print(data[:, 0].astype(int).sum())
diff --git a/util/webapi.py b/util/webapi.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..465c4ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/webapi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+import json
+import requests
+from urllib.parse import urlencode
+
+headers = {
+    "Content-Type": "application/json"
+}
+
+
+def parse_query(query):
+    """ Convert all lists to strings within a given query dict. """
+
+    ret = {}
+    for k, v in query.items():
+        if isinstance(v, list):
+            ret[k] = ",".join(v)
+        else:
+            ret[k] = v
+    return ret
+
+
+def get_json(url, query=None):
+    """ Perform a GET request and return the resulting JSON payload as an object. """
+
+    res = requests.get(url, params=query, headers=headers)
+    if res.status_code == 200:
+        return json.loads(res.content.decode("utf-8"))
+    else:
+        print("Response code:", res.status_code)
+        print(res.content)
+        return None