6 ms·

UK Government opens APIs, offers prizes for best mashups

62 points by danw 18y ago

ulf 18y ago
Is the UK Government the first to take that step? I think they are to expect huge benefits, at least after the first hype -if any- slows down and people start to develop serious applications. Bold move.
dangrover 18y ago
Neat. Strange that it's a .com though.
- danw 18y ago
  Yeah, that is a bit strange. I was expecting api.gov.uk or the like
- goodkarma 18y ago
  I found direct links to several of the APIs and data files and they all have .uk extensions. I was confused by the .com web site as well, not quite sure whether or not they are affiliated with the UK government..?
  - fendale 18y ago
    Probably not officially otherwise they would have a .gov.uk domain, but I imagine they must be at least loosely affiliated with the government to be pushing this sort of idea.
- ComputerGuru 18y ago
  Stranger still is the "usa" substring.... I had to read it twice to get the actual text :)
- steveplace 18y ago
  They have the .co.uk domain as well. Probably got both to help drive traffic.
auston 18y ago
Can U.S. citizens enter? Nothing in the rules that says no.
- danw 18y ago
  I believe in the faq it says anyone can enter. The only caveat is Civil Servants can't receive a monetary prize and instead will be given a gift, such as a macbook air.
  - omnipath 18y ago
    I am a civil servant/not in the UK can I enter? All ideas must affect and be implemented in the UK, but other than that the more ideas the merrier! The only caveat if you are a civil servant is that you will not be eligible to win financial elements of the prize. We are arranging for an alternative prize that can be awarded - something like a Macbook Air. I'm not sure, but I think that's saying you have to be in the UK. It's not very clear.
billroberts 18y ago
The UK Ordnance Survey (government mapping organisation) opening up its data is a big step - and not before time. Until now they've been very precious with releasing any of their tax-payer owned information.
goodkarma 18y ago
Direct links to some of the APIs/data files: Neighborhood Statistics API: http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=nde.htm http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do... NHS Choices API: http://www.nhs.uk/nhscwebservices/Pages/Webservices.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/nhscwebservices/Pages/Webservices.aspx EduBase School Data: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/edubase300608.zip http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/edubase300608.zip XML data file of "official notices": http://www.londongazette.co.uk/mashup/gazettesrdf.htm http://www.londongazette.co.uk/mashup/gazettesrdf.htm
louislouis 18y ago
RateMyPrison - http://visits.sicamp.org/ http://visits.sicamp.org/ - Brilliant Stuff!
danw 18y ago
Related article on how governments should open up their data and become platforms: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=198512 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=198512
vikram 18y ago
In some ways this announcement is typical of the UK government. All spin little substance. All transport information cost lots of money (GBP 50,000 for Train info), can't even get a free copy to prototype with. None of the Land registry information is available. E.g. Houseprices, etc. The map data released by UK Ordnance Survey is no different than what the other 1/2 dozen map providers have released in the past two years. They again charge thousands of pounds for detailed information like road location, etc. If one wanted to do Everyblock in the UK. It would cost you 100,000 gbp+ to get started. I think it's a good start, but it doesn't go far enough.
- simonw 18y ago
  The group behind this, the "Power of Information" taskforce, are trying to fix this. They need people to build things against the existing limited set of APIs that demonstrate how important this data is, so they can use that as an argument in getting better data made available under friendlier terms.
  - vikram 18y ago
    Simon, I like the work that you guys have been doing. I hope something comes of this. Part of what is disappointing is that until they don't release reasonable amount of data. Forget innovation, nothing will come of it. Case in point is that I'm interested in finding out good schools that my daughter can go to. I've had a look at EduBase. I can't tell if a school is any good or not. Or if they would admit my child or not. I can get more information from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk http://www.dcsf.gov.uk or go to the local council website and download the admissions criteria. Every school has a different admission criteria. Some care about how close you live to the school, some about where you worship or how christian you are. So if you have a child who is close to school going age and you want to work out what is the best school to send him/her to, you need to do lots of leg work. I thought about building such an app. I don't understand what you can do with the address, name of school, pupil age and head teacher name. Isn't it easier to write a crawler for http://www.dcsf.gov.uk http://www.dcsf.gov.uk
steveplace 18y ago
On a similar note, what I would love to see is full, free access to pure, unadulterated historical data from all facets of government. In the U.S. for example, try finding the correlation between GDP growth and number of border arrests. Or domestic oil consumption versus domestic production versus unused land leased to oil companies. Just a simple directory that would pull data from CIA, BLS, DHS, Treasury, etc. And you can download them in whatever format you chose. I'll put that on my conversation list when Barack comes over to my house for hamburgers. He really likes my recipe.
dhotson 18y ago
A while back I wanted to make a train trip planner app for my local public transport system in Melbourne. Rather than scrape their website I decided to do the right thing and ask permission to use their data. It turns out I needed to get written approval from the state public transport minister to get access to the data. I thought it would be a good idea if they offered an API or web service, so that they can maintain ownership of their data. But also, so that people like me can still access it to make cool apps. Anyway.. I'm getting off topic... I think making this kind of data available could lead to all kinds of cool stuff.

62 points by danw 18y ago

ulf 18y ago

Is the UK Government the first to take that step? I think they are to expect huge benefits, at least after the first hype -if any- slows down and people start to develop serious applications. Bold move.

dangrover 18y ago

Neat. Strange that it's a .com though.

danw 18y ago
Yeah, that is a bit strange. I was expecting api.gov.uk or the like
goodkarma 18y ago
I found direct links to several of the APIs and data files and they all have .uk extensions. I was confused by the .com web site as well, not quite sure whether or not they are affiliated with the UK government..?
- fendale 18y ago
  Probably not officially otherwise they would have a .gov.uk domain, but I imagine they must be at least loosely affiliated with the government to be pushing this sort of idea.
ComputerGuru 18y ago
Stranger still is the "usa" substring.... I had to read it twice to get the actual text :)
steveplace 18y ago
They have the .co.uk domain as well. Probably got both to help drive traffic.

auston 18y ago

Can U.S. citizens enter? Nothing in the rules that says no.

danw 18y ago
I believe in the faq it says anyone can enter. The only caveat is Civil Servants can't receive a monetary prize and instead will be given a gift, such as a macbook air.
- omnipath 18y ago
  I am a civil servant/not in the UK can I enter? All ideas must affect and be implemented in the UK, but other than that the more ideas the merrier! The only caveat if you are a civil servant is that you will not be eligible to win financial elements of the prize. We are arranging for an alternative prize that can be awarded - something like a Macbook Air. I'm not sure, but I think that's saying you have to be in the UK. It's not very clear.

billroberts 18y ago

The UK Ordnance Survey (government mapping organisation) opening up its data is a big step - and not before time. Until now they've been very precious with releasing any of their tax-payer owned information.

goodkarma 18y ago

Direct links to some of the APIs/data files: Neighborhood Statistics API: http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do?page=nde.htm http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/Info.do... NHS Choices API: http://www.nhs.uk/nhscwebservices/Pages/Webservices.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/nhscwebservices/Pages/Webservices.aspx EduBase School Data: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/edubase300608.zip http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/edubase300608.zip XML data file of "official notices": http://www.londongazette.co.uk/mashup/gazettesrdf.htm http://www.londongazette.co.uk/mashup/gazettesrdf.htm

louislouis 18y ago

RateMyPrison - http://visits.sicamp.org/ http://visits.sicamp.org/ - Brilliant Stuff!

danw 18y ago

Related article on how governments should open up their data and become platforms: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=198512 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=198512

vikram 18y ago

In some ways this announcement is typical of the UK government. All spin little substance. All transport information cost lots of money (GBP 50,000 for Train info), can't even get a free copy to prototype with. None of the Land registry information is available. E.g. Houseprices, etc. The map data released by UK Ordnance Survey is no different than what the other 1/2 dozen map providers have released in the past two years. They again charge thousands of pounds for detailed information like road location, etc. If one wanted to do Everyblock in the UK. It would cost you 100,000 gbp+ to get started. I think it's a good start, but it doesn't go far enough.

simonw 18y ago
The group behind this, the "Power of Information" taskforce, are trying to fix this. They need people to build things against the existing limited set of APIs that demonstrate how important this data is, so they can use that as an argument in getting better data made available under friendlier terms.
- vikram 18y ago
  Simon, I like the work that you guys have been doing. I hope something comes of this. Part of what is disappointing is that until they don't release reasonable amount of data. Forget innovation, nothing will come of it. Case in point is that I'm interested in finding out good schools that my daughter can go to. I've had a look at EduBase. I can't tell if a school is any good or not. Or if they would admit my child or not. I can get more information from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk http://www.dcsf.gov.uk or go to the local council website and download the admissions criteria. Every school has a different admission criteria. Some care about how close you live to the school, some about where you worship or how christian you are. So if you have a child who is close to school going age and you want to work out what is the best school to send him/her to, you need to do lots of leg work. I thought about building such an app. I don't understand what you can do with the address, name of school, pupil age and head teacher name. Isn't it easier to write a crawler for http://www.dcsf.gov.uk http://www.dcsf.gov.uk

steveplace 18y ago

On a similar note, what I would love to see is full, free access to pure, unadulterated historical data from all facets of government. In the U.S. for example, try finding the correlation between GDP growth and number of border arrests. Or domestic oil consumption versus domestic production versus unused land leased to oil companies. Just a simple directory that would pull data from CIA, BLS, DHS, Treasury, etc. And you can download them in whatever format you chose. I'll put that on my conversation list when Barack comes over to my house for hamburgers. He really likes my recipe.

dhotson 18y ago

A while back I wanted to make a train trip planner app for my local public transport system in Melbourne. Rather than scrape their website I decided to do the right thing and ask permission to use their data. It turns out I needed to get written approval from the state public transport minister to get access to the data. I thought it would be a good idea if they offered an API or web service, so that they can maintain ownership of their data. But also, so that people like me can still access it to make cool apps. Anyway.. I'm getting off topic... I think making this kind of data available could lead to all kinds of cool stuff.