(U7CA)

Introduction

API (Application Programming Interface) is a way for an information system to communicate with other systems. It works similarly to a browser request of a webpage, but instead of the webpage a server returns a formatted data.

For example, if your system needs to know the current weather conditions, you can retrieve this information from a weather API. OpenWeatherMap is an example of a weather API.. This API supports different parameters to specify the data you request.

A request like this one will return a current weather condition for the given ZIP in JSON format. You can test it in your browser. Appid parameter serves to control who is accessing the data (the ID in the given example is used for test purposes). You may also read the API docs for this API to get an idea about the structure of the data and the list of acceptable parameters.

[ COURSE PROJECT BELOW :

BUSINESS CASE A healthy lifestyle advocacy group is aiming to build a bike sharing system within a medium-size metropolitan area. The group has signed a contract with a company to provide the bike sharing technology and hardware (bike stations, bikes, network equipment, a server, and bike sharing software that automates the process of checking out and returning bicycles, and billing customers). The docking station provides a limited number of bike parking spots and is characterized by its location, bike capacity, and by real-time number of bikes parked. Docking stations have computers running on them, credit card reader, and a networking module which allows it to be connected to the Internet. The fleet of bikes has also been purchased.

FUNCTIONING OF THE SYSTEM There are two ways a user can get access to the system: 1) Using her annual subscription ($70) - 2) Buying day pass ($5) Every ride under 30 minutes is free. User is charged $1 dollar for a ride between 30 and 1 hour, 3 dollars for rides between 1 hour and 2 hours and a flat rate of 7 dollars for any ride over 2 hours. The users who havent returned a bike within 10 hours are billed with a $50 fine.

REGISTRATION PROCESS A user can register online or purchase a day pass at the station. ]

Directions

Based on the topic of the Course Project, find a relevant public API and submit the following information about it:

a) A short one paragraph summary on how this API will benefit the system proposed in the project.

b) A sample request to this API; download the result of the request and provide either a visual or statistical summary of the data.

For example, if you use an API that returns a list of geographical coordinates, you may import them to Google maps..

If you are familiar with Excel or other statistical software, you can produce either a meaningful chart or a simple statistical analysis of the data. For example, if your data consist weather information for 30 days, you can compute an average weather, or draw a chart of the weather for that period.

Most likely, you will need to convert a JSON data into CVS (or Excel) you can always use tools like this JSON Converter (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Note that not every object can be converted into a meaningful spreadsheet. Most likely you will want to have a list [] on the top level of the JSON structure, in order for each of its elements to be converted to a row.