#AccelaEngage
Building Civic Apps with
Open Data
Seth Axthelm
Mark Headd
Developer Evangelist
Accela
Developer Evangelist
Accela
#AccelaEngage
Agenda
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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 "92c62bd0-64ea48ed-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 Axthelm
Mark Headd
Developer Evangelist
Accela
Developer Evangelist
Accela
Accela Developer Links
Developer Portal: https://developer.accela.com
Developer Blog: http://devblog.accela.com
Developer Twitter: https://twitter.com/acceladev
GitHub: https://github.com/Accela-Inc
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