Zillow’s API Expands the Reach of Real Estate Data

Andres Ferrate, September 30th, 2008   Comments(3)

Real estate web service Zillow has progressively made a large amount of information available via its API (our API profile). Recently the Zillow API was updated to include access to additional information, including GetRegionPostings and GetUpdatedPropertyDetails API calls.

According to the Zillow blog:

The GetRegionPostings API takes a place (ZIP code, neighborhood, or even geo points) as an input and returns a count of listings by type (Make Me Move, for sale by agent, for sale by owner, and reported for sale) in addition to some home facts about each property returned.

The GetUpdatedPropertyDetails API call provides property details for home facts that have been edited by the home’s owner or agent.

Several web sites have integrated Zillow data via these new API calls, including Redfin and Realius (a real estate sales prediction game).

Other web sites have mashed up various types of Zillow data available via its API, including city and neighborhood information (regional home value trends, demographic data, and other data about homes). Education.com and Banks.com have both tapped into city trends and demographics to provide value-added result listings.

Although not available via its API, Zillow has made neighborhood boundaries data available to the public via a Creative Commons license. Check out walkability ranking web site Walk Score, which uses this data in conjunction with heat maps, and Andrew Mattie’s blog post on how to use the neighborhood data to build a mashup in 24 hours.

We currently have fifteen other Zillow mashups listed in our mashup directory and we look forward to adding more mashups as developers continue to tap into the broad set of data available via the Zillow API.

Share This

Yahoo and Mashable Extend BOSS Mashable Challenge

Andres Ferrate, September 29th, 2008   Comments(0)

Mashable and Yahoo! Search have extended the deadline for the BOSS Mashable Challenge. This contest, now running through October 5th, will award prizes to developers who create the best mashups with the Yahoo BOSS API. As many readers will recall from our earlier coverage on BOSS, the BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service) platform lets developers build their own full-blown custom search applications on Yahoo’s index of the Internet, the same infrastructure that underlies Yahoo Search.

According to Mashable:

The BOSS Mashable Challenge pits developer against developer to compete for the grand prize of $2,000 and an article on Mashable about your winning entry. How do you win? Build a kickass mashup – search engine or any other Web app – using the BOSS API and any other data sources/technologies.

See the official contest site for the complete rules.

A number of interesting entries are already listed on the contest site including TuneChimp, which lets you discover music artists, listen to top tracks, learn more about them through videos, photos, bios, news, and lyrics. This mashup uses APIs including Yahoo Boss, Last.fm and Flickr (and is today’s Mashup of the Day).

This contest is great news for developers who may already be in the process of developing mashups with the BOSS API (our Yahoo Boss API profile) or developers who are looking for an incentive to develop new mashups with the API.

We’re looking forward to seeing the winning mashups as well as more entries submitted for the contest. Stay tuned.

Share This

Microsoft Virtual Earth Adds SOAP, More 3D, and Weather

Andres Ferrate, September 26th, 2008   Comments(1)

Some big changes with Virtual Earth as Microsoft has announced the release of a new SOAP web service for Virtual Earth and an update to the Virtual Earth Map Control. The Virtual Earth AJAX Control SDK and the Virtual Earth Interactive SDK have both been updated as well.

According to Virtual Earth, An Evangelist’s Blog:

The new SOAP based Virtual Earth Web Services v. 1.0 offers static map images (.gif, .jpeg and .png), direct map tile access, one-box search functionality, geocoding, reverse geocoding, routing. It supports Virtual Earth on the desktop and on mobile devices.

It will be interesting to see how developers tap into this new web service, given its breadth of features, including reverse geocoding (a much requested feature among map mashers) and routing.

The new map control (version 6.2) offers a long list of new or expanded features, some of which include:

• Pushpin clustering. Display and cluster overlapping pushpins for better shape display at higher altitudes.
• Hints for route instructions. Help your users find route turns with hints about nearby landmarks and intersections.
• Imagery metadata. Retrieve information about imagery.
• Base map disabling. Use the Virtual Earth Mercator projection in non-mapping applications by turning off the base map.
• Support for other languages. Retrieve maps with labels in French, German, Italian, and Spanish from Virtual Earth. See the Returning Localized Results topic for a list of supported culture strings.
• 3D model import. Import 3D model data files into a shape layer. Interact with these models as you would any shape.
• Weather integration. Bring your 3D maps to life by featuring near real-time local weather and cloud formations.

One of the features that really grabbed our attention is the near real-time weather integration, which gives the 3D models some great context. Head over to the MSDN web site to view the documentation for the new web service SDK and the updated map control SDK.

You can find additional coverage of the new releases on LiveSide, WebProNews, Search Engine Land, Mark Brown’s Virtual Earth Blog and on Virtual Earth, an Evangelist’s Blog.

More on the VE SDK available at our Virtual Earth API profile and our listing of 150 map mashups developed with it.

Share This

Oracle Moves into the Cloud with the Help of Amazon

Andres Ferrate, September 25th, 2008   Comments(5)

Earlier this week Amazon announced that a number of Oracle products are now available on Amazon Web Services (AWS). If you are not familiar with AWS, these are a set of pay-as-you-go services (such as virtual servers and data storage) that together form a computing platform “in the cloud.”

The new integration brings several Oracle products to the cloud, including the Oracle Database (11g), Oracle Fusion Middleware, and Oracle Enterprise Manager. These products can be licensed and run on EC2 virtual server instances and customers can even use their existing Oracle licenses with no additional license fees. There are several Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) pre-bundled with Oracle products to make it easy to set up a virtual instance of Oracle (the AMIs include Oracle developer tools such as Application Express and JDeveloper).

The Amazon Web Services blog summarizes this new offering:

What does this mean? Instead of budgeting for and acquiring hardware, setting it up, installing an operating system and several layers of complex packages, you can simply launch one of these AMIs on EC2 and be up and running in minutes. This is definitely no-fuss, no-muss application development and deployment.

This move places an even greater focus on running enterprise services in the cloud, and it is clear that Oracle sees the cloud as a value-added option for its corporate customers. The move also shows that Amazon’s web services are gaining traction with companies that have traditionally catered to enterprise customers. We’re curious to see how this new development might influence enterprise mashups, given the scalability of AWS and the ability to quickly develop applications using Oracle’s development tools.

In addition to the EC2 AMIs, there’s also a new Oracle Secure Backup Cloud Module that serves as a secure backup solution for database servers running on EC2 or within the corporate network. You can find more information at the Oracle Cloud Computing Center, including an Oracle in the Cloud datasheet and Oracle’s Cloud Computing FAQ.

Also be sure to check out our API profiles for AWS services, including S3 storage API, EC2 compute services, and the Simple Queue Service.

Share This

Magnify.net API Brings Video Channels to Any Site

Jordan Running, September 24th, 2008   Comments(0)

Magnify.net, a web service that allows individuals and companies to build and curate their own video channels and communities, has announced an API to enable developers to pull videos and data from their Magnify.net channels and integrate them into their own applications (details at our Magnify.net API Profile).

From Magnify.net’s API page:

The Magnify API frees your channel’s functionality from its layout. All content that is discovered, reviewed and published by Magnify on your behalf can now be taken anywhere. You can search, browse and display your videos, playlists, users and comments for use on your own site or in your web application. You can build widgets tuned to your exact needs. You can mix, match and mash all of these to use your video in ways we’ve never imagined. And this is only the initial release: stay tuned for even more power.

The API takes simple REST queries and responses are delivered in Atom format. Applications can query video content, playlists, users, and user activity such as comments, ratings, and tags. In order to embed videos from Magnify.net in third-party applications, the Atom response for a content query includes a media:content element with a url value, which can be used as the src in an iframe.

For authentication, developers will use an API key and for end-users of applications built on the API, Magnify.net offers a single sign-on cookie system, which lets them log onto a channel without having to leave the application.

To get started with the Magnify.net API, the Developer’s Guide is the place to start. Sample code, as well as a PHP client library, is also provided, and a demo site gives several examples of the API in action. Their source code is provided on the sample code page.

Video APIs and mashups continue to be one of the most active segments of the web platform, with over 50 video APIs now available. For more on video APIs and mashups, see our Video API and Mashup Dashboard.

Share This

Track Stocks via Xignite’s Stock Market Quotes API

Kevin Farnham, September 23rd, 2008   Comments(0)

One way to keep up with the rapid movements in the stock market these days is via web services APIs. Take for example Xignite, the provider of commercial APIs for financial data. They have announced a new addition to its financial web service suite: XigniteGlobalQuotes. This new APIprovides users with programmable access to delayed stock quotes from global stock markets, including the Mumbai Stock Exchange (India), the Tokyo, Shanghai, and Singapore stock exchanges, the Brazil Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, and many continental European exchanges (more at our XigniteGlobalQuotes API profile). Coupled with the Xignite Global Historical API, the Global Quotes API provides investors and financial modelers with the data needed to assess global market events as they are occuring.

We introduced the Xignite suite in our review of 25 Finance APIs this past spring. The Xignite team has continued to engineer access to new financial data sources since then. Visit our Xignite API Directory to browse our overviews of the Xignite APIs.

Xignite founder and CEO Stephane Dubois had this to say about the reasoning behind the XigniteGlobalQuotes service:

“We identified a strong, unmet demand for global financial data and are meeting it with XigniteGlobalQuotes. With cloud computing gaining traction in the enterprise and within financial institutions, IT departments are recognizing that cloud-based web services offer a flexible and cost-effective alternative for sourcing market data…”

The XigniteGlobalQuotes API is available using standard REST and SOAP protocols with data output in XML format. The API provides two methods: GetGlobalDelayedQuote and GetGlobalDelayedQuotes. As is the case for all Xignite APIs, the new API is well documented. For example, here’s the GlobalQuotes WSDL.

An interesting feature that is now available for Xignite APIs is StrikeIron’s SOA Express for Excel. With this tool, your Xignite data can be streamed live into Excel workbooks. See our StrikeIron API Directory for overviews of StrikeIron’s own diverse APIs.

Share This

Huddle API: Facebook Meets Sharepoint

Kevin Farnham, September 22nd, 2008   Comments(0)

Huddle, the online project management and group collaboration service, has been releasing new Huddle API updates quite frequently. Huddle employs an agile development process with a two-week release cycle, so Huddle users and community developers are becoming accustomed to often seeing new features and bug fixes. In order to track this API we’ve created a new Huddle API profile.

Their web service provides developers with access to team workspaces, shared files, and project collaboration and tracking. In recent updates, the August 19 Huddle API release included calls to access the “What’s new?” project dashboard news feed and new interfaces to Huddle discussions. The September 2 update fleshed out programmable access to Huddle’s dicussion functionality, adding create discussion post, get discussion posts, delete discussion, and delete workspace methods.

The Huddle API is REST-based. It uses JSON as the data format and the Huddle development team is working on supplementing the API with additional data formats. HTTP basic authentication is the security model. The Huddle API documentation includes details of each method, an example application, and instructions on how to integrate Huddle into your own web site.

The Huddle Workspaces Facebook application lets people create private workspaces (huddles) for storing, sharing, and working on documents and other files with their friends and co-workers. “It’s perfect for running school and university projects, organising social activities, collaborating with work colleagues and a million other things.” Earlier this year when Huddle hired Jonathan Howell from Lastminute.com at their CTO, he cited their pitch as “Facebook meets Sharepoint” as a big part of the appeal.

Share This

iLike Launches API for Music Playlists

Kevin Farnham, September 19th, 2008   Comments(0)

iLike, Facebook’s favorite music service, has officially launched their new API. TechCrunch reports that iLike is partnering with Google, TypePad, Flixster, Connected Weddings, and others, in the launch. The music itself is provided by Rhapsody.

This new API will enable developers to easily add music to web sites and Facebook applications. The key feature of the API is its simplicity. Songs and fully functional playlists can be inserted into web pages using basic HTML and Javascript. At the moment there are not a lot of details on the new developer program available, but we’ll be adding more to our iLike API profile as they are released.

You can see example iLike API integrations created by iLike, Mike Arrington and CNET’s Caroline McCarthy to get a sense of how the playlists function. And as Caroline notes, there’s a social element to the lists:

There’s an interesting twist to iLike’s platform: it’s specifically focused on making iLike playlists available and openly collaborative… the forthcoming Connected Weddings application on Facebook, for example, will let wedding guests add to a suggested song playlist

To get started, visit the iLike Developer Signup page to register for an iLike developer account.

Share This

Yammer Opens Enterprise Microblogging API

Jordan Running, September 18th, 2008   Comments(0)

Yammer, a microblogging-for-business site and winner of the top prize at the recent TechCrunch50 conference, has released an API to allow developers to build their own applications around the service (Yammer API profile). Created by the people behind genealogy site Geni, Yammer has taken the tried and tested Twitter model, which asks users to answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less, and adapted it for businesses, turning the question into “What are you working on?” Users sign in with their work email addresses and their posts are visible only within their company.

Their new API is RESTful and provides responses in XML or JSON format. For developers not using fully REST-compliant libraries the API provides a _method parameter for PUT and DELETE requests. Its documentation describes method for retrieving messages, tags, users, and subscriptions (followers and followees, in Twitter parlance), and for sending and deleting messages. HTTP basic authentication is used to verify the identities of users of applications built on Yammer’s API, and no further authentication is required for developers. Applications are limited to five requests per minute per user.

Though the company says its iPhone, Blackberry, and Adobe Air-based desktop apps are built on the public API, their source code is not available, and no code samples or sample applications have been provided so far. However, support may be found at the user forum, which seems light on API discussion so far but well-staffed by Yammer employees.

Share This

Google Chrome Support Added to Google’s JavaScript Library

Andres Ferrate, September 17th, 2008   Comments(2)

The Google Data APIs Team has announced that its JavaScript Client Library now supports both its new Chrome browser as well as Apple’s Safari (both browsers are built on the WebKit open source browser). If you are not familiar with it, the JavaScript Client Library can be used to perform cross-domain AJAX read/write operations with several Google services including Google Calendar, Blogger, Google Contacts, and Google Finance.

According to Google, the client library now supports the following browsers:

• Internet Explorer 6 & 7
• Firefox 2.x & 3.x
• Safari 3.x
• Chrome

Although Internet Explorer and Firefox continue to dominate as the two most popular desktop browsers, it’s nice to see Google moving forward to support additional browsers, including its own browser (and as TechCrunch reports, they are already seeing more than 8% of their visitors using Google Chrome). We’ll have to see if support is extended for additional browsers, including Opera, anytime soon.

You can familiarize yourself with the vast array of Google’s APIs, including Google Calendar, Blogger, Google Contacts, and Google Finance, by visiting our API directory. We love to hear from developers using Google’s APIs, and if you’ve already developed a mashup we encourage you to add it via our Share page if you haven’t already done so.

Share This