Even though Alaska Airlines was one of the first airlines to offer an iPhone application, allowing travelers to check-in and use their phone as mobile boarding pass, early efforts were essentially just “screen-scraped” from the companies website, providing a very poor user experience, not really delivering on the process of the mobile web. Since you’re a ProgrammableWeb reader, you can probably guess what the company needed. After all, mobile has fueled API growth.
How many times have you been stuck in traffic behind a car circling the block looking for parking? Have you ever been that car circling the block? Imagine how much time (and gas) could be saved if there was an easier way to find the perfect place to park. Santa Monica-based ParkingInMotion, a developer of parking information apps for mobile devices, is working on making the process simpler. ParkingInMotion’s mission is to improve the way drivers find, compare, and pay for parking. The ParkingInMotion APIs provide access to the basic data in the ParkingInMotion database, as well as the optional higher level Rate Calculator and ‘ParkMe’ recommender.
Today OnStar, a GM company focused on in-car communication and security, announced what it calls an API. Though not yet released, nor totally open and perhaps not even an API, the move is certainly part of “car as a platform.” Building apps for cars is a movement that hasn’t seen much progress since Ford’s announcement two years ago. Though there is still a lot of potential, especially with the car culture in much of the US, some have questioned whether safety will stifle in-car apps.
It’s funny that when I talk to people in the travel industry about mashups and APIs, most of them get glazed looks in their eyes. Throw in terms like location based services or geospatial awareness and I’ve lost them. What most of them don’t realize is that the majority of the travel apps that are starting to come out, both online and for mobile are mashups that are relying on location awareness and geospatial data. Many of them, like Pocketvillage are a consumer interface on top of a variety of APIs all normalized for a single homogenous user experience. That’s right, it’s essentially a metasearch tool that pulls in content from a variety of sources including Viator, GetYourGuide, TourCMS, Rezgo, AirBnB, and many others. What differentiates a metasearch like Pocketvillage from other metasearch applications however, is the fact that with location based services enabled, Pocketvillage can return content based on your current location. The issue right now however is that not all geo data is equal. Not all APIs provide geolocation information and some return it based on different criteria.
There is no doubt that there is a lot of money to be made in travel. Heck, travel (globally) accounts for over 12% of the World’s GDP. That is some serious coin. You have an incredible idea for a web application that is going to make travellers love you and make you rich at the same time. The question is… who should I connect with and why? Here is a quick run down on the pros and cons of connecting with the likely, and not so likely, hotel distribution partners.
Roomorama is not the only one in the person to person travel accomodations game. The company is in a space that’s been well established by other players: CouchSurfing, Vacation Rentals By Owner and, of course, AirBnB. While there’s an AirBNB API planned, the only room rental site that is currently public with its platform is the the Roomorama API.
Popular room rental service AirBNB does not yet have an official AirBNB API. But signs point to one’s existence, as well as an affiliate plan in place to pay developers for reservations booked through the API. If the company sticks with the plan as written now, developers will be able to make up to 10 million API calls per day before contacting AirBNB.
Publisher Pearson recently launched its new API program with three of its top titles. The new platform provides a common set of tools that developers have grown accustomed to: documentation, sample code, app showcase, blog, forum and FAQs, for example. Pearson has a lot of content to pick from with its core offerings, as well as its numerous partners, and they decided to start by launching three very different content APIs: FT Press API, Longman Dictionary API and Eyewitness Guide to London API.
If there is a segment that is ripe for integration it is travel. APIs in the travel segment have been around for a very long time. In fact, some of the earliest APIs are based on Electronic Data Interchange, which dates back to the 1960s. Granted many of these connections are highly complex enterprise only integrations, it is a history that should bode well for modern day integrations, should it not? Despite a long history of interconnectedness, much of the travel space still remains behind closed doors. The major global distribution systems, represented by Sabre, Travelport, and Amadeus all offer powerful APIs of their own, but their commercial requirements tend to be out of the league of most application developers.
In spite of the limitations the travel industry has effectively self imposed, there still exists many opportunities to monetize sites using travel APIs. There are several types of APIs available in the travel space. Most are transactional and some are content driven. Let’s take a look a broad categorization of available travel APIs.
Travel reservation site Expedia starting working on its Expedia API back in 2009, according to the changelog. It has three APIs, covering hotels, flights and cars. Don’t be shy. Expedia has been expecting you. The Expedia developer site has all the warmth and care of a fine bed and breakfast. They clearly want to invite you in, make you comfortable, and get your development project of the ground. Though they do have a couple hoops to jump through, as well.
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