Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries.
These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics

# How to register and submit your entry
## registering your team
TODO how to use website "Hacker Space" to register and find teams etc.

## preparing your submission

You should record a 3 minute speech and mix images/text to accompany.
http://www.screenr.com/ and other screencasting tools allow you to demo apps.
To mix together clips, you can use youtube video editor http://www.youtube.com/editor or local software like http://www.videolan.org/vlmc/ or http://www.lwks.com/

You also need to submit your "source material". For an application this may be source code, for another work it might be your notes or prototypes.
The key thing here is that your source material demonstrates to the judges that some of the end result was your own work and that it is possible for another person to replicate that work.


# General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references}

## Who can be a hack day participant
  - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics

## Definitions
  - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data vis UX etc.

## The basics of being a data scientist

*   Have a hypothesis - even if you're making a tool/api that helps people with their questions too, remember what the objective of that is.
*   Find the people and tools you need to prove/show/find. This rest of this page will help with the latter.
*   Analyse and present results -  were they what you expected? Do they help explain to others what you have found out?
Can present as a interactive data visualisation or a web/mobile application or just a infographic/motion graphics video that tells a story.


[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f-300x199.gif "Data Journalism Diagram")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6a65720f.gif)</dt>
Illustration from Data Journalism Handbook, CC BY-SA 3.0</dd>


The best high level reference is the 'Understanding Data' and 'Delivering Data' chapters of the Data Journalism Handbook which is available online for free at

[datajournalismhandbook.org](http://datajournalismhandbook.org/)

You can learn the technical skills from scratch in Visualize This: The FlowingData Guide to Design, Visualization, and Statistics by Nathan Yau or for more advanced

practical advice check out Data Analysis with Open Source Tools by Philipp K. Janert

For further reading in this space

[http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/](http://flowingdata.com/2012/04/27/data-and-visualization-blogs-worth-following/)


**Statistics**

[http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html)

**Programming**

Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data.
Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn

interactively with websites like [http://www.codecademy.com/](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0). for JavaScript or [http://www.learnpython.org/ ](http://www.learnpython.org/)or [http://tryruby.org](http://tryruby.org/)

[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) - especially for web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JS. Common libraries like prototype or jQuery can help

**Accessibility/User Experience**

WCAG guidelines not only make a web app accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/)



## examples

## The Open Budget

## WeatherTree weather API

## PlanningAlerts

[![Planning Alerts Screenshot](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1-300x221.png "Planning Alerts Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1.png)Description: Planning Alerts takes data from local government development applications and sends alerts to users based on what applications are lodged in their area.

Programming Language: Ruby

Source Control: [Git](https://github.com/openaustralia/planningalerts-app)

Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/)

## LobbyLens

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium-300x180.png "LobbyLens screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png)

Description: Displays connections between government contracts, business details, politician responsibilities, lobbyists, clients of lobbyists, political donors and the location of these entities.

Programing Language: PHP

Source Control: SVN (Subversion)

Issue Tracking: A whiteboard

## bus.lambdacomplex.org

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae-300x253.jpg "Bus.lambda screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg)

Description: Online Canberra Bus Timetables and Trip Planner.

Programing Language: PHP/Ruby

Source Control: Git

Issue Tracking: Github


## Developer Tools For Your Computer {#developer-tools-for-your-computer}

server admin / technical tools
many projects will require some kind of internet presence, webpage etc.
    - css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation
- css gauges http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/
- bootstrap themes, web fonts, css sprites, icon fonts
  - http://designmodo.com/flat-free/ http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/

  - http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2008/11/11/relaying-postfix-smtp-via-smtpgmailcom/
  - amon

### Source Control 
 Git / Subversion

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-at-2012-04-29-172132-300x235.png "Git Screenshot")](http://progit.org/book/)

[http://progit.org/book/](http://progit.org/book/)

[http://svnbook.red-bean.com/](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/)

[http://tortoisesvn.net/](http://tortoisesvn.net/)

[http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/)

### Task Tracking -

Issue/task trackers allow you to outline the tasks required for your project and assign them to people to do.

[Trello](https://trello.com/) and [Workflowy](https://workflowy.com/) are free, lightweight project management tools suitable for a rapid project!

## Hosted Developer Tools {#hosted-developer-tools}

Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so no setup required.

### Github
Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are possible. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use the variety of Git capable tools

### Sourceforge

Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, CVS, issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects.

You can create your own Sourceforge project at [http://sourceforge.net/](http://sourceforge.net/)

### Google Code Project Hosting

Git, Mercurial, and Subversion code. Issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects.

You can host your Google Code project and get access to developer tools, APIs and documentation at [http://code.google.com/](http://code.google.com/)



# API Development {#api-development}


So an API isn't just an XML file ![;)](http://www.govhack.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif) 

A good web based data API:

*   Is logically organised
*   Can filter returned data
*   Can return results in different open formats (CSV/JSON etc.)
*   Is efficient and responsive by using caching and databases appropriately
*   Handles errors gracefully
*   Monitors and controls access (to show benefit realised of API and prevent abuse)
*   Provides appropriate documentation with examples

Some people like sensis [http://](http://developers.sensis.com.au/)[developers.sensis.com.<wbr>au</wbr>](http://developers.sensis.com.au/)[/](http://developers.sensis.com.au/) use a provider like[http://](http://mashery.com/)[mashery.com](http://mashery.com/)[/](http://mashery.com/) or [https](https://apigee.com/)[://](https://apigee.com/)[apigee.com](https://apigee.com/) or [http://](http://apiaxle.com/)[apiaxle.com](http://apiaxle.com/)[/](http://apiaxle.com/) or [http://www.3scale.net/](http://www.3scale.net/) which handles making a good API for them.

Atlassian have a great page on what makes a good API https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)

API
  - howto.gov api tutorial
  - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/
  - http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/
  - api documentation
    - WSDL or http://swagger.wordnik.com/ or https://github.com/mashery/iodocs
    - http://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle
      - https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails
      -
   http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/


# Infographics and Data Visualisation {#data-visualisation}

Infographics try to contextualise charts and graphs to tell a story. Data vis builds on this to find new ways to design insight.

Most of the categories to follow have visualisation tools specific to their purpose.

You can find some data visualisation tools below:

[http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/](http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/)

Also check out [http://thejit.org](http://thejit.org/) &amp; [http://www.senchalabs.org/<wbr>philogl/</wbr>](http://www.senchalabs.org/philogl/) (contributed by Matt Adcock)

Have to use visual art concepts, good color schemes http://www.r-bloggers.com/the-paul-tol-21-color-salute/


    - https://graphics.stanford.edu/wikis/cs448b-12-fall/ data viz theory
    - http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources

examples    - http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/
tools     - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog



# Mobile
bom water, nz gov budget
html5 jquery mobile like directory.gov.au
    - android datviz
      - http://code.google.com/p/afreechart/ http://code.google.com/p/snowdon/ http://code.google.com/p/chartdroid/ http://androidplot.com/ http://code.google.com/p/achartengine/



# Geographical Data Tools {#geographical-data-tools}

Check out the[ GeoRabble Boundary Mapper's Cookbook](http://georabble.org/2012/05/31/the-boundary-mappers-cookbook/) to see how you can tie all these things together!

## Key datasets
          - base layers like agri http://agri.openstreetmap.org/, http://irs.gis-lab.info/ wms or http://www.gdal.org/frmt_wms_openstreetmap_tms.xml
           ASGS including suburbs/postcodes
                   - andrewharvey4.wordpress.com postgis/asgs tutorial
## Wrangling

### Converting
There are many spatial data formats and often the one your tool requires is not the one the dataset is provided in
Online
  - http://converter.mygeodata.eu/vector kml exporter for shp
or locally using GDAL

### geocoding
cloudmade, google (but you must display on a Google Map).

Easiest way to do is with a Google Spreadsheet/Fusion Table http://williamparry.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/putting-data-into-google-fusion-tables.htm http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/1012281?hl=en&ref_topic=2592806


## Analysis


### PostGIS

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/postgisexample-300x130.jpg "postgisexample")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/postgisexample.jpg)PostGIS is an extension for the PostgreSQL database server that allows you to store and manipulate geospatial data on a large scale. For example finding which points are in an area or what points are closest . It is also very useful for storing geospatial data because it can convert between all major formats including ESRI Shape files and Google Earth/Maps KML.

### Quantum GIS

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m50afbe88-300x160.jpg "QGIS Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m50afbe88.jpg)QGIS is a graphical desktop application that allows viewing and editing of geospatial data. Some good base maps are available by adding the WMS layer/server [http://irs.gis-lab.info/](http://irs.gis-lab.info/)

## Visualisation

### Layar and other augmented reality tools

### Google Fusion Tables/ChartsBin/[OpenHeatMap](http://www.openheatmap.com/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/fusiontablesscreenshot-300x168.jpg "fusiontablesscreenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/fusiontablesscreenshot.jpg)Input numerical values and areas to a spreadsheet and maps are produced where the areas are colored on a scale of the values

http://www.peteraldhous.com/CAR/Making_maps_with_Google_Fusion_Tables.pdf tutorial or http://support.google.com/fusiontables/topic/2592754?hl=en&ref_topic=27020 for google help files

### [Cartographer.js](http://cartographer.visualmotive.com/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/cartographerjs-300x187.png "cartographerjs screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/cartographerjs.png)Input data as JSON and maps are produced.
See also d3 maps.
  - http://bost.ocks.org/mike/map/


### OpenLayers/Google Maps/[Leaflet](http://leaflet.cloudmade.com/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_512fcbe1-300x173.jpg "OpenLayers Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_512fcbe1.jpg)Display points and different layers. Leaflet is the easiest to use if you just want to show points with popups when clicked on.
There are wrappers for Google maps like http://hpneo.github.com/gmaps/examples.html and Mapstraction that can make it easier to use too.

### NASA World Wind/Google Earth

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_4dda24a4-300x261.jpg "WorldWind screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_4dda24a4.jpg)Google Earth provides 3\. viewing of KML/GML files which represent points and shapes, both through a desktop application and a web plugin. These can be extended with interactive features that allow you to view by timeline or have animated tours between different points. You can also develop and customise your own viewer with the open source [NASA World Wind toolkit.](http://goworldwind.org/demos/)

### 

# Tabular Data Tools {#tabular-data-tools}

## Wrangling

Tabular data may have duplicate entries or incorrect formats (varying ways to enter dates/phonenumbers etc.). There are tools to quickly fix common problems

[DataWrangler](http://vis.stanford.edu/wrangler/)/[Google Refine](http://code.google.com/p/google-refine/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/google_refine_interface.png "google_refine_interface")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/google_refine_interface.png)Clean up duplicate or inconsistent data entries.

Can also use general purpose tools; grep/awk/sed
regex http://www.regexper.com/ http://www.debuggex.com/?re=&str=

## Analysis

### Excel / Calc

Great basic analysis and viewing. Older versions can be limited to 6500\. or so rows. Eg [http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474](http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474)

### PostgreSQL/MySQL

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_209ee972.jpg "SQL screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_209ee972.jpg)Next step up, large datasets can be manipulated/extracted efficiently for example [http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/tutorial-window.html](http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/tutorial-window.html) , no built-in data visualisation though.

### [Miso Dataset](http://misoproject.com/dataset/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m53b7ee38-293x300.png "miso screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m53b7ee38.png)Javascript data transformation library - especially good if you want to use the output for javascript interactive visualisations because the transformations can be done on-the-fly by users.

### R Statistical Language

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/rstudio-windows-300x249.png "rstudio-windows")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/rstudio-windows.png)Advanced data analysis, can find and visualise trends in large datasets. Some reference resources to learn the language [http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html ](http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html)There are also some addons that provide graphical interfaces that make it easier to use such as Rattle [http://rattle.togaware.com/](http://rattle.togaware.com/) , RStudio [http://rstudio.org/](http://rstudio.org/) or Deducer [http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual](http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual)

  - http://blog.yhathq.com/posts/10-R-packages-I-wish-I-knew-about-earlier.html
        - excel -> R/rattle/ deducer? http://www.r-bloggers.com/updates-to-the-deducer-family-of-packages/
    - http://www.twotorials.com/ for R
      - http://www.r-bloggers.com/gradient-word-clouds/ http://www.rstudio.com/shiny/ http://blog.ouseful.info/2012/11/28/quick-shiny-demo-exploring-nhs-winter-sit-rep-data/ https://github.com/timelyportfolio/shiny-d3-plot https://github.com/trestletech/shiny-sandbox/tree/master/grn
         - http://www.r-bloggers.com/video-simpler-tricks-and-tools-help-debugging-git-latex-and-workflow-with-r-by-prof-rob-hyndman/
      - http://yihui.name/knitr/ makes reports including google widgets/charts/maps via http://www.r-bloggers.com/googlevis-0-3-2-is-released-better-integration-with-knitr/
      - http://chartsnthings.tumblr.com/post/36978271916/r-tutorial-simple-charts http://flowingdata.com/2012/12/17/getting-started-with-charts-in-r/


## Visualisation

### [Tableau Desktop](http://www.tableausoftware.com/)

Create visualisations from various data formats by dragging and dropping. Free trial available on website. [![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/Tableau-Screenshot-300x190.jpg "Tableau Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/Tableau-Screenshot.jpg)

### [Flotr2](http://www.humblesoftware.com/flotr2/)/[Google Chart Tools](https://developers.google.com/chart/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m11006fce-300x199.jpg "flotr2 screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m11006fce.jpg)Javascript based charts for webpages.

### D3.js (Data-Driven Documents)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m90d8020-300x277.jpg "d3 screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m90d8020.jpg)Javascript visualisations that are more interactive or intricate than charts. Can be hard to learn but there are examples and easier to use premade visualisations such as [word clouds](http://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/), [realtime filtering of barcharts](http://square.github.com/crossfilter/), or [bubble trees for comparing amount sizes](https://github.com/okfn/bubbletree).
d3
  - http://datadrivenjournalism.net/resources/data_driven_documents_defined
    - http://www.benmcmahen.com/blog/posts/50eb57d55a94d35262000001 d3 svg
    - d3 tools and tutorial http://enjalot.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4608440
      - Why d3 is the way it is and how to make charts http://bost.ocks.org/mike/chart/
      - how to make an xkcd chart http://bl.ocks.org/3914862

### Processing.js

# Unstructured (text documents, webpages, metadata, tweets etc) Data Tools

## wrangling
Scraperwiki pytemplate scrapy
regex

#analysing
    - opennlp/nltk / https://github.com/clips/pattern
    - lucene/solr
    - http://www.r-bloggers.com/simple-text-mining-with-r/
    - http://blog.josephwilk.net/ruby/latent-semantic-analysis-in-ruby.html similar terms usually found together

#visualising

Overviewer/ Jigsaw
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ii/jigsaw/

http://www.jasondavies.com/wordtree/

# Graph (relationships and networks) Data Tools {#graph-relationships-and-networks-data-tools}

    - http://www.slideshare.net/OReillyStrata/visualizing-networks-beyond-the-hairball
    - http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-554179-622011.html SNA tools catalog
    - https://github.com/jacomyal/osdc2012-sigmajs-demo sigmajs filtering/searching


## Analysis

### R

- http://is-r.tumblr.com/post/38240018815/making-prettier-network-graphs-with-sna-and-igraph


### Neo4j / OrientDB

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/webadmin-data-300x127.png "Neo4\. web admin screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/webadmin-data.png)Help understand relationships - how is X connected to Y and via what other entities they both are connected to. Imports and exports

    - http://www.slideshare.net/maxdemarzi/etl-into-neo4j
    http://blog.neo4j.org/2013/03/importing-data-into-neo4j-spreadsheet.html

http://www.orientdb.org/

Both can be accessed using a preexisting tool like Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser.



### [NetworkX](http://networkx.lanl.gov/index.html)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/chess_masters-300x300.png "NetworkX")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/chess_masters.png)

NetworkX is a social network analysis library for python. Many advanced analyses built in like finding communities within a graph. Also good for converting data into graphs.


## Visualisation
###  Tree/Hierarchy visualisation
Sometimes what you actually have is a tree/hierarchy with no interconnections.
 http://www.randelshofer.ch/treeviz/ http://thejit.org/demos/ http://mbostock.github.com/protovis/ex/treemap.html http://blog.pixelingene.com/2011/07/building-a-tree-diagram-in-d3-js/d3 for Trees and Hierarchies
 http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/pack.html http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/tree.html

### NodeXL for Microsoft Excel
    - http://nodexl.codeplex.com/ network graphs for excel

### [Graphviz](http://www.graphviz.org/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_7579906d-300x184.png "Graphviz Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_7579906d.png)Classic directed graph visualisation tool, can even [generate images online without installing](http://ashitani.jp/gv/) or use in webpages with [javascript port of software](http://code.google.com/p/canviz/). File format ["dot" very easy to learn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_language)

### Gephi

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_74d01d05-300x195.jpg "Gephi Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_74d01d05.jpg)Desktop graph editor and renderer. Many good automatic layout algorithms even for very large graphs.

### [sigma.js](http://sigmajs.org/)

[![](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6006eaf3-300x130.jpg "Sigma.js Screenshot")](http://www.govhack.org/wp-content/uploads/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6006eaf3.jpg)Javascript graph viewer, can use GEXF files exported from tools like neo4j, gephi and NetworkX.