Brief introduction on using Open Data in Mobile Applications for AITEC Africa 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya.

1. USING OPEN DATA IN!
MOBILE APPLICATIONS

2. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Allan Lykke Christensen"
• 14 years experience"
• B.S.c. 1. Class Honours Computer
Science & E-Business"
• Career"
– Director
Interactive Media Management"
ABOUT – Vice President
Danish ICT Management"
ME
– Business Analyst
ALLAN@I2M.DK! PRO€INVEST (EU)"
– Software Engineer
Siemens Communications"
– Technical Consultant
Metrocomia"
– Independent Consultant"
• Open source and open data solutions"
• LinkedIn
http://dk.linkedin.com/in/allanlykkechristensen"

3. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Introduction to Open Data"
• Open Data Services"
PURPOSE
• Open Data in Mobile Apps"
OPEN DATA &
MOBILE APPS! • Success Factors"
• Getting Started!"

4. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
1. Access"
2. Redistribution"
3. Reuse"
4. Absence of Technological
Restriction"
WHAT IS 5. Attribution"
OPEN 6. Integrity"
7. No Discrimination against Persons
DATA?
or Groups"
FROM OPEN
DEFINITION.ORG!
8. No Discrimination against Fields of
Endeavour"
9. Distribution of License"
10. License must not be specific to a
package"
11. License must not restrict the
distribution of other works"

5. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Government"
– Kenya Government
http://opendata.go.ke"
– World Bank
http://data.worldbank.org"
– United Nations
http://undata-api.org/"
– Data.gov
OPEN
http://www.data.gov"
– Data.gov.uk
http://www.data.gov.uk"
DATA •
"
Non-government"
SERVICES
– OpenStreetMap
http://openstreetmap.org"
– Wikipedia
NOT ALL http://www.dbpedia.org
"
SERVICES ARE
• Portals and Providers"
FREE!
– Infochimps
http://www.infochimps.com"
– Socrata
http://opendata.socrata.com"
– Freebase
http://www.freebase.com"
– DataMasher
http://www.datamasher.com"

6. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• CDFMonitor"
• Msema Kweli"
• Huduma (SMS)"
• K-Traffic"
• mHealth (Ethiopia)"
MOBILE
• PHSRP (India)"
APPS
EXAMPLES!

7. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Protocols / Query"
– SOAP"
– REST"
– XML-RPC"
– X over HTTP"
– SPARQL"
DATA – YQL"
– OData"
EXCHANGE
• Formats"
COMMON – JSON"
PROTOCOLS AND
FORMATS!
– XML"
– RDF"
– XLS"
– CSV"
– TXT"
– HTML"
– PDF"

8. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Flat rates"
• Smart phones"
SUCCESS • Marketing of solutions"
FACTORS
• Partnerships"
CONSTRAINTS!
• More open data!"

9. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Find a service"
• Explore the datasets"
– Register API key"
• Determine protocol"
GETTING • Determine format"
STARTED
• Identify client API libraries"
DEVELOPERS!
• Design queries"
Don’t just consume, PRODUCE!"

10. Using Open Data in h"p://opendata.go.ke
Mobile Applications
GETTING
STARTED
h"p://www.infochimps.com
FIND A SERVICE!

11. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
h"p://opendata.go.ke/browse
GETTING
STARTED
EXPLORE
DATASETS!

12. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
h"p://dev.socrata.com/
GETTING
STARTED
DETERMINE
PROTOCOL &
FORMAT!

13. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• For opendata.go.ke we need a
REST client that supports JSON"
• Devices:"
GETTING – J2ME"
STARTED
• org.json
Java
Library
CLIENT API – Android"
LIBRARY!
• org.json
Java
Library
• Open
Data
Kit
– iOS"
• json-­‐framework
(Google
Code)

14. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
All queries below should be prefixed http://opendata.go.ke "
• http://opendata.go.ke/api/views.json
List of available datasets. Datasets have unique
identifiers."
• /api/views/rsim-nh7f.json
Get dataset with unique identifier rsim-nh7f (CDF
GETTING Projects)"
STARTED
• /api/views/rsim-nh7f/rows.json
Gets all the data in the data set"
DESIGN QUERIES!
• /api/views/89zb-g69r/rows.json?max_rows=20
Gets the first 20 data entries in the data set"
• /api/views/89zb-g69r/rows/2.json
Extract record number 2 from the data set"
• http://dev.socrata.com/querying-datasets
Filter queries use the HTTP POST method or by
predefining queries"

15. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
J2ME"
"
String url = "http://opendata.go.ke/api/
views/rsim-nh7f/rows.json?max_rows=100";
GETTING // Prepare a RESTful connection
HttpConnection hc = (HttpConnection)
STARTED
Connector.open(url);
WRITING THE hc.setRequestMethod(hc.GET);
CODE! hc.setRequestProperty("Accept-Type",
"application/json");
// Execute connection
int responseCode = hc.getResponseCode();

16. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
J2ME"
"
// Read the (JSON) response into a String
InputStream is = null;
StringBuffer b = new StringBuffer();
try {
is = hc.openInputStream();
long len = hc.getLength();
int ch = 0;
GETTING
if (len != -1) {
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++) {
if ((ch = is.read()) != -1) {
STARTED
}
}
b.append((char) ch);
WRITING THE } else {
CODE! // Read till the connection is closed.
while ((ch = is.read()) != -1) {
len = is.available();
b.append((char) ch);
}
}
} finally {
if (is != null) {
is.close();
}
hc.close();
}

17. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
J2ME"
"
// Turn response into JSONObject
JSONObject json = new JSONObject(b.toString());
JSONArray results = json.optJSONArray("data");
// Store result in internal data structure
Vector projects = new Vector();
// Column indexes
int COLUMN_ID = 1;
int COLUMN_COUNTY = 9;
int COLUMN_DISTRICT = 10;
GETTING
int COLUMN_CONSTITUENCY = 11;
int COLUMN_PROJECT = 12;
int COLUMN_SECTOR = 14;
STARTED
int COLUMN_EXPECTED_OUTPUT = 17;
int COLUMN_STATUS = 19;
int COLUMN_ESTIMATED_COSTS = 21;
int COLUMN_TOTAL_COSTS = 28;
WRITING THE
CODE! // Iterate through resutls
if (results != null) {
for (int i = 0; i < results.length(); i++) {
JSONArray item = results.getJSONArray(i);
CdfProject project = new CdfProject();
project.setId(item.get(COLUMN_ID));
project.setTitle(item.get(COLUMN_PROJECT));
project.setConstituency(item.get(COLUMN_CONSTITUENCY));
projects.addElement(project);
}
}

18. Using Open Data in
Mobile Applications
• Open data"
• Mobile apps"
• Data exchange"
SUMMARY
• Success factors"
• Getting started"

19. THANKS FOR LISTENING!
ALLAN@I2M.DK