[open-government] Open Data API?

Wed Aug 17 20:52:52 UTC 2011

On 18 August 2011 08:14, Neil McEvoy <neil at mcevoy.biz> wrote:
> As I understand it the basic mechanic of Open Data is to 'extract and
> publish', which means the issue is the data is static and aging.

Two quick notes:

For most data, being static is fine. For example, senor readings wont
change over time. So, fear not if you've been handed a spreadsheet or
a zip archive with historical time series data.

"aging" is also not the correct term to be using here. Yes, data often
relate to a point in time. However, that doesn't mean that data are
less capable of being interpreted over time.

> I've heard of an 'Open Data API', so you're accessing the data directly.
>
> Is there such a thing, any more info on this?

There are many places purporting to be open data APIs. This guide may
help to show what the term means:
http://mixandmash.org.nz/the-competition/mashup-guide/getting-started-with-an-api

It's very difficult to give a uniform definition for the term API,
because it is sort of an umbrella term for when one application opens
itself to another. Here is one attempt for WWW connected devices: "An
API is a way for two computer programmes to communicate. Rather than
using a search box to ask a site where some content is, software can
ask the site directly."

APIs are very useful for retrieving very up-to-date data. That is, it
will often allow you to access material that is not yet archived.

Does this go some way to answering your question?