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
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
3. Accessing Open Data … – opendata.swiss – data.stadt-zuerich.ch – opentransportdata.swiss – europeandataportal.eu – … … all these catalogs have got catalog APIs, too!
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.
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
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
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
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
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!
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?
11. – Contact Andreas Amsler Liip AG // Limmatstrasse 183 // CH-8005 Zürich +41 79 518 32 37 // andreas.amsler@liip.ch www.liip.ch