{
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    "title" : "The API Briefing: Two Great Housing APIs and Why HUD Needs to Build More |Digital.gov",
    "description": "The API Briefing: Two Great Housing APIs and Why HUD Needs to Build More",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/14/the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"The API Briefing: Two Great Housing APIs and Why HUD Needs to Build More","summary" : "Recently, a reader pointed out that some of the APIs I write about are not really APIs but just datasets. Technically that is true but it only takes some development effort to turn a into an API. That is why I also highlight interesting federal datasets along with federal APIs.","date" : "2015-01-14T12:47:31-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"bbrantley" : "Bill Brantley"},"topics" : {
        
            "application-programming-interface" : "Application programming interface"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-01-14-the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/01/2015-01-14-the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/01/2015-01-14-the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/01/2015-01-14-the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more.md","slug" : "the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/14/the-api-briefing-two-great-housing-apis-and-why-hud-needs-to-build-more/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/01/600-x-400-Robot-with-tools-and-application-programming-interface-sign-Technology-concept-Kirillm-iStock-Thinkstock-450547591.jpg\"\n    alt=\"600-x-400-Robot-with-tools-and-application-programming-interface-sign-Technology-concept-Kirillm-iStock-Thinkstock-450547591\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eRecently, a reader pointed out that some of the APIs I write about are not really APIs but just datasets. Technically that is true but it only takes some development effort to turn a into an API. That is why I also highlight interesting federal datasets along with federal APIs. There are many federal datasets that should be APIs but how do agencies choose which datasets to build APIs? One way is through citizens demanding that an API be created from a popular dataset. So, that is why I publicize promising datasets that should be APIs. \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/01/250-x-167-Open-xml-book-no-credit-given-iStock-Thinkstock-94378834.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Open xml book\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore we start, let me explain the difference between a dataset and an API. A dataset can be a downloadable file such as a comma-delimited file (CSV), an Excel spreadsheet, or an XML file. A dataset can even be delivered as a JSON (Javascript Object Notation) file. Essentially, a dataset is just a data dump with no way to select a subset of the data (see \u003ca href=\"http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/pis/Multifamily_Assisted_Property_Physical_Inspection_Dataset.txt\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ethis example\u003c/a\u003e). Once a developer builds methods to query the dataset and deliver a selected slice of the dataset, then you have an API. APIs can be programmed to read data from a dataset and even write data to a dataset. More complex APIs can also execute functions on applications built around datasets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA great example of many datasets that should be APIs are the nearly 200 \u003ca href=\"http://data.hud.gov/data_sets.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development datasets\u003c/a\u003e. There is an amazing amount of housing data from public housing inspections to fair housing cases to free geographical information system (GIS) mapping files. Many apps could be built from HUD’s data that can provide insights into community housing and provide numerous services for HUD costumers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two existing HUD APIs demonstrate why more need to be created. There is the “\u003ca href=\"http://data.hud.gov/housing_counseling.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eHousing Counselor Web Service\u003c/a\u003e” and the “\u003ca href=\"http://data.hud.gov/section3.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eSection 3 Business Locator Web Service\u003c/a\u003e.” The Housing Counselor locates counseling services for customers who need HUD counseling while the Section 3 business locator gives the location of businesses that \u003ca href=\"http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/section3/section3\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eprovide services to low-income housing recipients\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth of the HUD APIs have good documentation pages and a good information service that demonstrates the kind of information delivered by the APIs. The APIs can easily be incorporated with other APIs to create useful community housing services apps. Moreover, HUD has 200+ more potential APIs that could be extremely useful to state and local governments along with HUD customers and community development organizations.\u003cem\u003eEach week in “The API Briefing,” I will showcase government APIs and the latest API news and trends. Visit this blog every week to learn how \u003ca title=\"APIs in Government\" href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/04/30/apis-in-government/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003egovernment APIs\u003c/a\u003e are transforming government and improving government services for the American people. If you have ideas for a topic or have questions about APIs, please contact me via \u003ca href=\"mailto:bill.brantley@wdc.usda.gov\"\u003eemail\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/em\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eDr. William A. Brantley is the HRIS Branch Chief in the USDA’s Rural Development Human Resources Office. You can find out more about his non-federal work in this space at \u003ca href=\"http://billbrantley.com/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBillBrantley.com\u003c/a\u003e. All opinions are his own and do not reflect the opinions of the USDA and GSA.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"copyIcon copy0\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"pasteIcon paste0\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"notifyIcon\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"copyIcon copy0\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"pasteIcon paste0\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"notifyIcon\"\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n"}
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