ESA Small & Medium Sized Enterprises on a map

This article has been expanded and updated in post 2 and post 3.

Recently I had some business on the European Space Agency (ESA) SME Database. This database lists small and medium sized companies that have been cleared or granted privileges to work as contractors for the ESA.

The primary public access to this database is a long tabular list of company names and addresses. This data can be better presented today by overlaying it on an interactive map instead of a list. Using such a format can also make it easier for people to browse and investigate opportunities in specific areas.

So, in the spirit of being the change you want to see, I set out to create an offline parser (.NET) to source the list of companies from the SME database and then a simple PHP website to render the results onto a nice modern map (in this case Google Maps).

The change

First version is done and you are welcome to use it:

Try it

This first version is very basic. Currently the following improvements are planned

1. More details about companies shown when the markers are clicked
        2015-01-11: Page now shows company fields of expertise as well as contact information 
2. Filter companies by their sector and project types
3. Select companies and print a list for future reference (in case you're job hunting)

My ongoing list

My totally unoriginal list of things I'm still learning:

1. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Just do it!
     
2. It's better to fix problems than trying to prevent errors. So try to fail as fast and as early as you possibly can and learn from it.
     
3. It's not your baby, so leave your ego at the door. Your work is not "yours" but your employer's. So as soon as it's been typed, it can and should be criticized and worked on by anyone.
     
4. Everyone does things slightly differently. If things are correct, avoid judging other peoples work purely on style or differences from how "you would do it".

Improving the TFL Open Data Feeds and APIs #2

So following up from my earlier post about the TFL Data APIs I don't think I was being fair towards the TFL dev team. The API that is currently provided, called TrackerNet, was made available in August 2011 and is now going on its 3rd year. The API is still quite horrendous by modern (and 2011) standards but granted is the first step publishing the vast network of disparate data-sources in use used within the TFL after its merger in 2000.

Little did I know that there is indeed an impressive brand new API (api.beta.tfl.gov.uk) powering the newly redesigned tfl.gov.uk website that was launched in late March 2014. This I discovered by accident when investigating the seeming information difference between station disruptions in the TrackerNet API and what was displayed on the TFL website.

Below are images showing the difference in information provided for the same tube station "Paddington" between the old TrackerNet API and what is shown on the TFL website itself.

TrackerNet results for Paddington station

TFL website information for Paddington station
(only the past paragraph is what is available in TrackerNet)

The new API

api.beta.tfl.gov.uk offers information about it seems every aspect of the TFL network and facilities. The developers seem to have taken the approach to developing the new TFL site as simply one presentation layer on top of this vast and rather well performing API.

The guidelines ask that developers that want to leverage the API sign up for a key and an app-id that should be submitted with every query. But all API calls seem to work just fine without supplying these values. 

One minor gripe that I have with the API is that it is perhaps overly verbose with average data result sizes close to 1MB in size (uncompressed) . Comparing the size of the boris bikes between the APIs:

Old API		New API
Compressed	Uncompressed	Compressed	Uncompressed
31.8KB	266KB	110KB	1.6MB

But this is a small price to pay today for a much richer and consolidated API experience.

Unfortunately the data published by the old API is not compatible with the new one and most notibly is the station and tube line names that are different. Luckily developers such as Matt Hinchliffe have already gathered some really useful support data to make the data and its use easier.

Now I guess I should update my bike and bus websites to leverage this new found API gold :)

Improving the TFL Open Data Feeds and APIs

This blog has moved to https://blog.sverrirs.com/2014/07/improving-tfl-open-data-feeds-and-apis.html

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