Civic Innovations

Technology, Government Innovation, and Open Data

5 Minute REST API

Inspired by one of Waldo Jaquith’s recent projects to create an easy solution for converting data into a REST API, I wanted to try doing the same thing with a bit of a different approach.

Below is a quick screencast demonstrating how to take a CSV file and convert it into a powerful, flexible REST API.

I use the following tools in this demo, some of which I have mentioned before:

I haven’t used CouchDB for a project in a while, but I still wonder at its power and utility – for my money, there is no easier way to create a REST API than with CouchDB.

What I think this example demonstrates is that there are an abundance of tools that can be used to create powerful APIs, making it easier and more practical to build solutions with open data.

Find a tool or approach that best fits your technical skills and get hacking!

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About Me

I am the former Chief Data Officer for the City of Philadelphia. I also served as Director of Government Relations at Code for America, and as Director of the State of Delaware’s Government Information Center. For about six years, I served in the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS), and helped pioneer their work with state and local governments. I also led platform evangelism efforts for TTS’ cloud platform, which supports over 30 critical federal agency systems.

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