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Building Civic Apps with Open Data

Seth AxthelmDeveloper EvangelistAccela

Mark HeaddDeveloper EvangelistAccela

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Agenda

• What is Open Data?• CivicData.com Walkthrough• CivicData.com API• Data Visualizations• Text Messaging App• Q&A

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Definitions

• Open Data• Data form governments made available for external

use in machine readable formats.

• csv, json, xml, etc…

• CivicData.com• Open source open data portal powered by Accela and

CKAN (best of breed open source open data platform

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CivicData.com

• Shared / collaborative open data platform

• Built on best-of-breed, open source CKAN platform (powers OpenColorado & Data.gov)

• Launched in October 2013

• Free for both Accela and non-Accela customers

• Releasing new features every 6-8 weeks

• Real-time open datasets from Accela Automation

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CivicData.com

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CivicData.com API

If you have some basic experience with SQL you can

use this API!

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CivicData.com API - SQL

• Enables you to use SQL to retrieve data• Use PostreSQL Syntax -

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/sql-syntax.html• Use double quotes around column names• Use single quotes around strings• Returns JSON response (and JSONP)• Can join multiple datasets!

• Example: http://mheadd.github.io/nypd-accident-data/

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CivicData.com API - SQL

• Prefix the query with this:• http://www.civicdata.com/api/action/datastore_search_sql?sql=

• Examples:• Permit counts by type – no filter

• SELECT "PERMIT TYPE", count(*) as COUNT from "92c62bd0-64ea-48ed-b28b-6976fba03cde" GROUP BY "PERMIT TYPE" ORDER BY COUNT DESC

• Count of closed permits• SELECT count(*) from "92c62bd0-64ea-48ed-b28b-6976fba03cde"

WHERE "PERMIT STATUS" = 'Closed’

• Permits ready for pickup• SELECT * from "92c62bd0-64ea-48ed-b28b-6976fba03cde" WHERE

"PERMIT STATUS" = 'Ready for Pickup’

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CivicData.com API

• JSON Formatter (Chrome Extension) - http://bit.ly/1qnSaLL

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CivicData.com API

• cURL - http://curl.haxx.se/

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CivicData.com API

• Postman (Chrome Extension) - http://bit.ly/1kmL3FK

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Data Visualizations

• Charlotte County, FL Examples

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Data Visualizations

• Live Example:• http://axtheset.github.io/bocc-civicdata/

• Source code: https://github.com/axtheset/bocc-civicdata

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Getting Data Easily

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Text Messaging App

• Simple SMS app to allow citizen to look up permits by address.

• Node.js + Twilio + SLC Data on CivicData.com

• Using a provider like Twilio (or Tropo, or Nexmo) allows you to choose any web technology.

• Helps focus attention on how data is presented, channels used.

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Text Messaging App

• Demo time

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Question & Answer Session

Seth AxthelmDeveloper EvangelistAccela

Mark HeaddDeveloper EvangelistAccela

Accela Developer LinksDeveloper Portal: https://developer.accela.comDeveloper Blog: http://devblog.accela.comDeveloper Twitter: https://twitter.com/acceladevGitHub: https://github.com/Accela-Inc