Census Developer Program
and CitySDK Update
Jeff Meisel
Chief Marketing Officer
Customer Liaison and Marketing Services Office
https://www.census.gov/developers/
https://github.com/uscensusbureau
Today’s Discussion
Where we
are Today
Census
Developer
Program
Where we
are Going
Creat ing
Scale
Census Developer Program
APIs
CitySDK
CEDSCI
Wikidata
Open Mapping
Hackathons
The Opportunity Project
Tools for Data Science
The success of our APIs means that our
customers have big – and growing –
expectations for us.
John H. Thompson
Director of the U.S. Census Bureau
Open Data Science Conference
Saturday, May 21st 2016
Our Challenge
Developer Audience Growth
18532417
3249
4568
6022
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
New API Keys
New API Keys
CitySDK
Why create a Software Development Kit?
The project goal is to increase productivity on new projects and “just handle it” for developers.
During the beta release in 2015 targeted at Javascript programmers, user research showed a reduction in the on-boarding time (for JS developers) from > 12 hours to < 4 when using Census data to build an application.
What’s New with CitySDK
What’s new in version 2.0 (alpha)
Version 1.0 was limited to Javascript
developers, as it was packaged as a JS
library. In order to support any
programming language, the project has
been re-architected with a Node JS back-
end running the Commerce Data Service
cloud. Now, the CitySDK capabilities are
accessible through an API proxy, making
the tool an option for developers of any
programming language.
PythonJS R +
Open Data
Language Support
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Case Study:
Healthy Food Options
Hackathon Case Study:
Puerto Rico
• Coordinated with, and hosted at Sacred Heart University’s innovation and collaborative space, as well as the neighboring Studio Lab.
• Exceeded our goal of 50 attendees (107 registrants, via Eventbrite registration page)
“This collaboration marks a paradigm shift for innovation in Puerto Rico. Community needs and opportunities, in this case of Santurce, along with those within the community of Sacred Heart, become catalyst of creativity and knowledge for our hackers who have produced innovative solutions to prevailing challenges,” Javier De Jesús, Director for the Innovation and Collaborative Center at Sacred Heart University.
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Hackathon Case Study:
Hack the Last Mile
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Hackathon Case Study:
Amazon Alexa Skills Challenge
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My Income Data as a Service
The Opportunity Project
opportunity.census.gov
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The Opportunity Project:
Private Sector Tools
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The Opportunity Project:
Private Sector Tools
Where We are Going
“Creating Scale”
Wikidata
Project led by the Commerce Data Service
Sasan Bahadaran – Data Engineer, CDSLogan Powell – Census Developer Program
Wikidata
Project Phase 1: Create bot to automatically write
Census data from Census APIs to Wikidata
``CENSUS API
Wikidata
VALUE
QUALIFIERS
OPENEDREFERENCES
STATEMENTGROUP
Wikidata
Project Phase 2: Create bot to automatically write data from Wikidata to Wikipedia
Wikidata
INFOBOX
VALUE
Citizen mappers make a difference: Post-
earthquake Mapping in Port-au-Prince
Source: http://www.harrywood.co.uk/blog/
Open Mapping
Open Mapping
Missing America
• Missing America is a new initiative to engage student geographers to map
some of the marginalized and remote places across the US.
• The purpose of this program:
– Make Census Bureau geographic expertise visible to the next generation
geographers - this is how we ‘do’ geography
– Start a conversation between the Bureau and citizen scientists and
constituents using the OpenStreetMap platform - this is how we ‘use’
geography
– Reward student mappers with service learning credit for demonstrated
proficiency in mapping techniques - hooray, you’ve learned some geo-skills
Open Mapping
• Students select a tile in the
project area to work on
– Digitize all roads, buildings,
and noteworthy features
– Students correct errors and fix
incorrect geometry, topology
• Local mappers conduct
ground truthing
– Refine attribution, e.g. building
use, road type
– Supply missing details, e.g.
address, phone number
– Verify map digitizing accuracy
Open Mapping
Open Mapping
NSF Data Start Grant
Overview: data.world is working under a National Science
Foundation Program (Data Start) to build a linked data
representation of Census data. Develop a schema and ontology to
make Census data joinable and correlatable to data from disparate
and varied sources.
To be Announced Soon:
First-Ever Civic Digital Fellowship for Students
Summary: Census Developer Program
APIs
CitySDK
CEDSCI
Wikidata
Open Mapping
Hackathons
The Opportunity Project
Tools for Data Science
• User research – we want to talk to software developers, data scientists, and the open mapping community.
• Help us understand your needs - let’s discuss how to package this content for your constituents.
• Your expertise - advise us if we can bring these opportunities to your states and spur potential partnerships.
• Refer students to us for the Civic Digital Fellowship.
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How SDCs Can Get Involved
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Jeff MeiselChief Marketing Officer
Logan PowellCitySDK Product Owner
Contact Info
https://www.census.gov/developers/
https://github.com/uscensusbureau
