Presentation to the iNetwork "App Your Service: mobile applications for better public Services" event on the API used by LG Inform, LG Inform Plus and other applications for UK local information.

1. esd.org.uk
sharing nationally
to improve services
locally
App Your Service: mobile applications for
better public Services
LG Inform and other public
sector APIs to build apps
Mike Thacker

2. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Who am I?
• Mike Thacker, Porism Limited
• Technical partner to LGA for esd-toolkit
programme
• Relevant work:
– esd-standards
– IT infrastructure serving LG Inform and LG Inform
Plus apps
• Interest: Re-use efficiency across local
government

3. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Application Programmer Interfaces
• Why APIs are important
• Apps for service delivery
– Examples
– APIs
• Apps for information
– Examples
– Useful open data
– APIs
• LG Inform API
– Examples
– The API
Apps and the APIs they use

4. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Apps provide ways of interacting with
council/community services. They are not self-
contained.
APIs can:
•Open public systems to third party developer
•Open data for creative re-use
Councils can benefit:
•From providing APIs so other people help deliver council
services
•From using APIs to take advantage of data and services provided
by others
Why APIs are important

5. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
• Integrate with backend system (eg council CRM)
• Single or multiple councils
• Normally public non-personal information
Apps for service delivery

6. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
APIs
• Open311 – API for issue submission and tracking
– Mainly USA
– There’s an add-on to Lagan CRM
– Lots of open source software
• LG Service List and Functions List provide standard
definitions across England and Wales
• GDS provides council web page addresses via LG
Service List reference
• GDS has open API – at least for web site content
• Mydex identity management provides a way of
managing personal data

7. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Present information, usually specific to the locality
Apps for information
Crime map Numberhood OpenlyLocal scraped planning data

8. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Linked Data sources:
• Open Data Communities
• Ordnance Survey
• esd-standards
• CIPFA
APIs
• Open Street Map
• Police / Crime
• Openly Local
• Transport for London
• Nomis / NESS / ONS
• LG Inform Plus
Useful open data

9. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
LG Inform API in use
LG Inform
LGA
Suppli
er
LG Inform Plus
esd-toolkit
programme
Clouds Over London
Team Bieber

10. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
LG Inform Plus – Metric types
Data for 18,000+ metric types defined
publicly at
http://id.esd.org.uk/list/metricTypes

11. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
LG Inform Plus – Web methods
• Metric values by:
– large area (country, region, authority) and/or
– small area (ward, OAs, neighbourhood)
– time period
• Area properties and groups
• Summaries and breakdowns
(percentiles, mean, median, regression,
...)
• User sign-in for extra permissions
See web methods

12. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Why use LG Inform API?
• Do more than LG Inform and LG Inform Plus
• Tap into the LGA Research and Information
Team’s expertise
• Avoid the cost of gathering and maintaining
own data
• Avoid having to hunt out data from
numerous sources
• Security managed for you
• Quality of analysis and IT infrastructure

13. esd.org.uksharing nationally
to improve services
locally
Further information
api.esd.org.uk
support@esd.org.uk
@esdtoolkit
Mike.Thacker@Porism.com
@MikeThacker