| Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries. | 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 | These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics |
| - govhack toolkit!!!! | # General Data Hacking and Programming References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references} |
| ## 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. | |
| Please note, there are a combination of Analysis and Visualisation tools in each of the major categories below. | |
| [](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/) | |
| ## Who can be a hack day participant | |
| - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics | |
| ## Definitions | |
| - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data bis UCX etc. | |
| ## key datasets | |
| - key datasets, directory.gov.au gazetter/AEC electorates/suburbs/postcodes/LGAs | - key datasets, directory.gov.au gazetter/AEC electorates/suburbs/postcodes/LGAs |
| - definitions, open licence reuse permissive hacker hack data journalism data bis UCX etc. | ## examples |
| - what do govhack entries look like? | |
| - roles; coder, designer UX/graphics | ## The Open Budget |
| ## WeatherTree weather API | |
| ## PlanningAlerts | |
| [](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.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.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 | server admin / technical tools |
| many projects will require some kind of internet presence, webpage etc. | many projects will require some kind of internet presence, webpage etc. |
| video tools, youtube slideshow, FOSS video editing tools | - css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation |
| - http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2008/11/11/relaying-postfix-smtp-via-smtpgmailcom/ | video tools, youtube video editor/slideshow, FOSS video editing tools |
| - http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2008/11/11/relaying-postfix-smtp-via-smtpgmailcom/ | |
| - amon | - amon |
| geo | ### Source Control –\. Git / Subversion |
| - http://converter.mygeodata.eu/vector kml exporter for shp | |
| - http://bost.ocks.org/mike/map/ | [](http://progit.org/book/) |
| R | [http://progit.org/book/](http://progit.org/book/) |
| - 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://svnbook.red-bean.com/](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/) |
| d3 | [http://tortoisesvn.net/](http://tortoisesvn.net/) |
| - http://datadrivenjournalism.net/resources/data_driven_documents_defined | |
| - http://www.benmcmahen.com/blog/posts/50eb57d55a94d35262000001 d3 svg | [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  | |
| 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](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)[://](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)[developer.atlassian.<wbr>com</wbr>](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)[/display/REST/](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)[Atlassian](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1)[+<wbr>REST+API+Design+Guidelines+<wbr>version+1</wbr></wbr>](https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1) | |
| API | API |
| - howto.gov api tutorial | - howto.gov api tutorial |
| - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/ | - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/ |
| - http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/ | - http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/ |
| - api documentation | - api documentation |
| - WSDL or http://swagger.wordnik.com/ or https://github.com/mashery/iodocs | - 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 | - 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 | - https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails |
| - | - |
| - tools.disclo.gs - how to use data | http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/ |
| - https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet#wiki-images reference style images? | |
| - developer tools inc. linked data | |
| - gephi -> neo4j | # Infographics and Data Visualisation {#data-visualisation} |
| - neo4j lets you build on, do massive queries of who is friends with who | |
| - don't use network viz if 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/ | Infographics try to contextualise charts and graphs to tell a story. Data vis builds on this to find new ways to design insight. |
| - http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/pack.html http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/tree.html | |
| - postgis/quantum gis | Most of the categories to follow have visualisation tools specific to their purpose. |
| - (google earth is alright but many limitations) NASA World Wind? | |
| - ABS statistical areas | You can find some data visualisation “essential”\. tools below: |
| - http://irs.gis-lab.info/ wms or http://www.gdal.org/frmt_wms_openstreetmap_tms.xml | |
| - can do nearest/isin/union queries - personal geocoder | [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/) |
| - cloudmade geocoder, google maps my maps | |
| - base layers like agri or nearmap | Also check out [http://thejit.org](http://thejit.org/) & [http://www.senchalabs.org/<wbr>philogl/</wbr>](http://www.senchalabs.org/philogl/) (contributed by Matt Adcock) |
| - scraperwiki with new pytemplate libraries | |
| - makes an API for your data to get in sqlite/json/csv | Have to use visual art concepts, good color schemes http://www.r-bloggers.com/the-paul-tol-21-color-salute/ |
| - three.js with cables vis? Overviewer from AP? | |
| - govhack library | |
| - http://hpneo.github.com/gmaps/examples.html | - 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 | |
| html5 jquery mobile like directory.gov.au | |
| - android datviz | - 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/ | - 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/ |
| - https://graphics.stanford.edu/wikis/cs448b-12-fall/ data viz theory | |
| - https://mixpanel.com/education/understanding-the-first-five-minutes | |
| - http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources | |
| - http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=6465 | # Geographical Data Tools {#geographical-data-tools} |
| - http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9781449339739/k_00000002.html list of d3 alternatives | |
| - http://craigkerstiens.com/2012/10/01/understanding-postgres-performance/ | 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! |
| - https://github.com/clips/pattern for easy NLP/network analysis/data mining | |
| - https://github.com/theodi/open-data-tech-review/wiki othr cleanup/linked data toola | ## Key datasets |
| - http://www.opentripplanner.org/apidoc/rest.plan.html | - base layers like agri http://agri.openstreetmap.org/, http://irs.gis-lab.info/ wms or http://www.gdal.org/frmt_wms_openstreetmap_tms.xml |
| - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog | 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 | |
| ## Analysis | |
| ### PostGIS | |
| [](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.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.jpg)Input a numerical values and areas to a spreadsheet and maps are produced | |
| ### [Cartographer.js](http://cartographer.visualmotive.com/) | |
| [](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.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.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)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)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.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.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/ | |