1. Conference on National Platforms for SDG Reporting
Building the solution for NRPs : innovative approaches and technologies Dissemination through web services / APIs
Conference on National Platforms for SDG Reporting
22-24 January 2018, New York

2. Data interoperability
Data interoperability is about allowing multiple actors in a data ecosystem to more easily share and integrate data from different sources
It is about the use of generic, flexible technologies

3. What is an API?
Application Programming Interface “A reusable interface that different applications can use to easily connect to an information system”

4. APIs as part of data dissemination strategy
Objective: Promote the use of data and statistics to implement and follow up the 2030 Agenda by enabling third-parties to create innovative applications that respond to information needs of policy and decision makers at all levels
Strategy: Make interoperable data available on the web through well documented and easy to integrate APIs, following open standards and best practices

5. Design APIs with needs of developers in mind
Easy to learn and easy to use
Well documented, using an API description language (e.g., swagger)
Self-explanatory
Explorable and discoverable
Clean front end
Graceful error handling
Secure, reliable and meeting performance requirements
Based on IT and statistical standards

6. Some good practices when designing APIs
Research how key user groups would want to use the API
Which problems do they need to tackle?
Which apps do they want to build?
What data objects / resources would they want to use in their apps?
Design a prototype of the API using an API description language
Build a test application that solves a real problem, and refine the API capabilities
Useful to have a pilot group of API consumers that can provide feedback during API design process

7. Some good practices after publishing APIs
Help potential users find the API
Monitor and analyze usage
Collect feedback from users
Discover patterns of use
Monitor up time (reliability) and response time (performance)

8. UNSD portfolio of APIs
Global SDG Indicators API UN Comtrade API UN Data portal API SDMX Web Service Monthly Bulletin of Statistics Web Services

9. https://unstats.un.org/SDGAPI/swagger/

10. Limitations of APIs: The case for linked data
Most Web APIs use identifiers with local scope and don’t provide links to third-party information resources.
Different APIs usually implement specialized data models and access interfaces
Programmers first need to understand the methods available and write custom code to retrieve data from each individual API
Need to invest significant efforts to integrate multiple datasets into a single user application (mashup)
Clients need to be tightly coupled to the structure of the data at the source