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I stumbled across NOAA's SOAP Service and it got me thinking. What other eGovernment services are provided to Business and the general public by Governments? I know the United States has a lot APIs, but what about other governments like the European Union. I am interested in not just SOAP but any Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service available to the public over the internet. I am interested in more than just data sources, but other types of APIs as well.

Mark Elliot
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rook
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    Not actually from a government directly, but potentially of interest to you: The Sunlight Labs Congress API: http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ – Tyler Sep 10 '10 at 07:21

9 Answers9

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Suddenly I feel proud to be a British Citizen... are you ready? Good:

HMRC (the lovely people who take our tax off us) provide a fully documented API, see here, for filling in just about every form they have. Not only that, but they define a whole set of schemas and everything available here: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/govtalk/schemasstandards.aspx

All I can say is my estimation of the UK gov't went up when I disccovered that.

Unfortunately that's as far as it goes, but still, an API for interacting with the HMRC is very, very useful.

We also have data.gov.uk where an entire archive of government data is made available; I believe there are APIs for accessing it too.

Edit: I have just stumbled across another UK data source/API:

Ordnance Survey Mapping Data (openspace). Some things have already been done with openspace I believe; still, free access to OS's maps to manipulate how you will is very, very good. Ordnance Survey maps of the UK are very high quality and come in varying levels of accuracy and for different purposes (for those who haven't lived/travelled in the UK).

Edit 2: Look at this! The World Government Data Store API from the guardian. A newspaper, writing an API...! I'm in shock. Sticking to UK themed APIs, here's the API directory of the UK from programmableweb.

  • Seems like if they're only providing an API, that one might be able to wrap a nice front-end around that API and start a business... – Adam Oct 04 '10 at 20:57
  • @Adam Indeed. I believe HMRC online is the web frontend to said APIs for some tasks, but yes, people like Sage et al are using exactly these APIs. They also allow you to register an SSL certificate for sign on rather than a uname/password (at HMRC.gov.uk) albeit only if you use Internet Explorer. I want to give them some kind of medal for being the only site using SSL as it *should* be used. –  Dec 09 '10 at 16:28
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US Government Web Services and XML Data Sources

Beth
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France

Germany

United Kingdom

United States of America

I started compiling an answer with a list of APIs per countries, but I realized I wouldn't have the time so here's already a few pointers.

API Directories

Looking for APIs Online

Public API Efforts

Similar StackOverflow Questions

I am making this answer a community wiki so others can contribute directly. I think this is a very good question and it deserves a very comprehensive answer and that we consolidate this stuff in one area.

Community
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haylem
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I live in NZ and there are quite a few useful public government webservices available:

InfoConnect Highway Info - Supplies traffic count information, traffic web-cams, highway location referencing etc

Broadband Map - Public webservice that allows one to get a feel for the overall coverage of various broadband services in NZ

GeoNet - Earthquake, tsunami data (which is quite relevant as we just had a massive earthquake today)

Hope that helps ya in some way!

Found some more from ProgrammableWeb:

Australian Business Number Lookup

OpenSecrets.org - U.S. Political Data Lookup API

European Open Patent Services API

UK police force mapping service

United Nations Information Service

World Government Data

hydrogen
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There is also a load of data services that are free and available at Azure Codename "Dallas": https://www.sqlazureservices.com/Catalog.aspx

They include:

  • Crime in the United States - DATA.gov
  • City of Miami 311 Service Requests (CTP2)
  • NASA Mars Exploration Rover Mission
  • United Nations Population Division

Just to name a few!

Deano
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Project Nimbus is a public initiative in Singapore by a group of developer to gather and make available information collected by the Singaporean government and private organizations into the form of an easily digestible and accessible API.

The project is still in its infancy but already has some interesting data available for consumption, such as:

  • Local traffic conditions
  • Public library locations
  • Local weather information
Yi Jiang
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The Federal Reserve Banks usually have some pretty good APIs and data.

John Gietzen
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Some German governments (we have multiple states) provide the Zuständigkeitsfinder, a SOAP-Interface where you can search for the nearest person responsible for several so-called "Anliegen" like getting a new passport, nominating someone for the Bundesverdienstkreuz (a medal given for extraordinary engagement for the public) or getting a permission to drive a truck at the weekend in the city.

tstenner
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PRC provides the Great Firewall to protect netizens from porn, subversion, and competition from foreign internet companies.

emory
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    This isn't an API, it is also a horrible abomination. I feel sorry for all of the Chinese people and i hope one day they will be free. – rook Sep 10 '10 at 03:31
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    I feel sorry for the citizens of PRC being forced to use CVS because Subversion is blocked. – graham.reeds Sep 10 '10 at 11:29