Better data is not just about more data – it is about making much more use of the data that already exists. And developers are key to this – creating the platforms and the tools that allow people to analyze, combine, and sort through data to find the answers they need.
Here at the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data we want to make it easier for developers to find and use the quite phenomenal diversity and range of data sets that can be found online, to create apps and visualizations, and to power the platforms that will allow that data to be used to make life better throughout the world.
We work with over 200 member organizations around the globe and across all sectors and types of institutions. Many of these organizations have access to valuable data sets that could support the SDGs. However, it is often difficult to find the right data sets across a plethora of portals and platforms and, in many cases, it is difficult to ingest these data through a robust API that enables further use and application of these data.
Within this context, the Global Partnership is launching a beta version of API Highways to provide easy access to SDG-relevant data and further empower the developer community to use these data for action and decision making through the development of rich visualizations and applications.
Discussions among our partners made it clear to us that the Global Partnership, with its reach and overall mission, has a role for being a neutral data broker across sectors and supporting interoperability. As a result, the API highways project was born, bringing data together through a standard API (Open API Initiative) and letting others build on top of the infrastructure.
The Global Partnership partnered with Vizzuality to support the development of the site. The back end is open source, drawing on projects supported by a number of our partners, including the World Resources Institute. This is the typical Global-Partnership approach: using and combining assets and expertise within its members in order to build out a public good to support the global community.
Now that the site is live, we want your feedback! We want to encourage the developer community, as well as interested companies and organizations, to start playing with the API Highways. At the site you will find a link to a feedback survey.
We will also be working on extending the data holdings and have some additional data clusters in the works – so stay tuned! If you are interested in connecting your data resources to this infrastructure, please let us know at info@data4sdgs.org.
