The future of Open Data catalogs: interoperability

Today the majority of government applications do not have programming interfaces to automatically interact with. The reasons for locked application are diverse. On the other hand: What are incentives for interoperability?

Beside GUIs for human interaction Open Data catalogs like https://opendata.swiss or https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch have got APIs, too. All of a CKAN website’s core functionality (everything you can do with the web interface and more) can be used by external code that calls the CKAN action API.

This presentation is listing examples of CKAN action API requests, and presents some use cases and ideas for its usage, which deliver added value for both data-users and data-publishers.

Transcript

1. –
   The future of Open Data
   catalogs: interoperability
   Andreas Amsler @ opendata.ch/2017
   27 June 2017, Lucerne
   

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2. Place your elements
   over this background
   960x1080px
   Lock-in
   – Applications
   – Databases
   – Data
   – …
   … incentives to
   become
   interoperable?
   “Added New Protection”, Inkjetprint, 90 × 112cm, © 2009 Beni Bischof
   

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3. Accessing Open Data …
   – opendata.swiss
   – data.stadt-zuerich.ch
   – opentransportdata.swiss
   – europeandataportal.eu
   – …
   … all these catalogs have got
   catalog APIs, too!
   

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4. What’s an API, and what is it for?
   e.g. the CKAN action API
   All of a CKAN website’s core functionality (everything you can do with the web
   interface and more) can be used by external code that calls the CKAN API.
   

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5. Using the CKAN action API (I)
   Give me a JSON-formatted list of:
   – all datasets:
   – https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/package_list
   – https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/api/3/action/package_list
   – all thematic categories:
   – https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/group_list
   – https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/api/3/action/group_list
   – all keywords:
   – https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/tag_list
   – https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/api/3/action/group_list
   – all organizations:
   – https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/organization_list
   

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6. Using the CKAN action API (II)
   Give me a full JSON representation of:
   – a dataset: https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/package_show?id=federal-finances-institutions
   – a keyword: https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/tag_show?id=bevoelkerung
   – a thematic category: https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/group_show?id=tourism
   Give me a result for:
   – datasets matching a search term: https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/package_search?q=soil
   – the top 10 keywords used by datasets:
   https://data.stadt-zuerich.ch/api/action/package_search?facet.field=[%22tags%22]&facet.limit=10&rows=0
   

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7. Using the CKAN action API (III)
   Give me a result for:
   – all datasets of an organization:
   https://opendata.swiss/api/3/action/organization_show?id=kanton-basel-stadt&include_datasets=true
   

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8. Open Data Assistant
   chatbot
   Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtK2N0NmNWk&feature=youtu.be
   Info: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1705.00894.pdf
   Cross-lingual search across multiple open data catalogs
   place image
   626 x 311 px
   in foreground
   

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9. Open Data catalog frontends …
   Exploit the interoperable potential built-in opendata.swiss:
   – for data-publishers
   – for data-users with special interests
   – …
   … realise the benefits of interoperable
   applications!
   

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10. Questions
    – …
    – How can an efficient exchange between data-users and -publishers be
    enabled best?
    – What are prerequisites to further advance our local and national open data
    catalogs into those directions?
    – How can you – as a (potential) open data user – support open data delivery
    in Switzerland?
    

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11. –
    Contact
    Andreas Amsler
    Liip AG // Limmatstrasse 183 // CH-8005 Zürich
    +41 79 518 32 37 // andreas.amsler@liip.ch
    www.liip.ch
    

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