[okfn-labs] Ideas for data mashups and improved visualisation for CKAN

Wed Jul 24 10:38:10 UTC 2013

Hi all,

We would like to massively improve the data explorer and visualisation
functionality on CKAN and are looking at open-source libraries and toolkits
we may be able to use.

Our brief is as follows:  

Search and select data from CKAN, overlay datasets the data to create
mashups, and present these in an engaging and easy-to-use embeddable visual
format.  Data would also include geospatial. Data could include transport,
air quality, energy usage / resource efficiency, and licensing of premises /
planning. 

There have been some cool new initiatives from infogr.am, Dataseed and
Datawrapper.de. There are also some great geospatial visualisation
libraries, like Kartograph.

Our interest is in open source solutions to look at:

1. Managing diverse data alignment for the mashup;
2. Outputting that data to an embeddable visualisation.

We can build on Recline and improve it, or we can work with another existing
library that offers us greater flexibility.  We don't want to start from
scratch, though.

We would love to hear your ideas and suggestions as we look to the next
generation of CKAN data explorer.

Thanks and appreciated

Gavin

Gavin Chait
Head of Services | skype: whythawk | M:  +44 (0) 78 9495 7090 | @GavinChait
The Open Knowledge Foundation
Empowering through Open Knowledge
http://okfn.org/