Jonathon's Ramblings

In order to keep things a bit tidier, and so that people can stay updated with all the different development projects I’m currently working on in once place, I’ve moved the Syndicate Out development blog across to my main domain.  All old Syndicate Out posts and comments have been moved over there, and anything relating to the plugin from now on will only be posted on that site.

The blog can now be found over here. Apologies for any inconvenience!

I wrote last year about Gordon Brown’s announcement that the UK Government would be releasing a load of data for public consumption.  Today the first step in that plan went live.  Data.gov.uk is a repository of a whole load of data sources provided by the Government on everything from Council Tax rates through to local NHS dentists.

We here at Fubra have been part of the discussion surrounding the release of the data for the last few months, and are really pleased to see something coming to fruition.  While the site is still in beta it really does show promise for those of us who just can’t get our hands on enough data.

We’ve been testing a few different CCTV recording systems in the office of late.  One of the application’s we’ve had a play with is the Axis Camers Station.

The Axis Camera Station gives you the ability to set up your own bespoke views with certain cameras in specific slots.  This set up also allows you to include web pages in one of the panels.  As part of the data we collect in relation to our datacentre we record the weather and environmental conditions in our offices.  So I thought it would be fun to integrate some of this data with the live view screen.

The result is this little page: http://environment.manor.fubra.net/status.php.  The page slots in to the top right of the live view.

We have just released a new WordPress plugin which makes adding the minimum, maximum and average fuel prices for your area in the UK to any WordPress blog easy.

As mentioned in this blog post the plugin makes use of the new PetrolPrices.com XML data feed in order to build a fully customisable table.  The plugin provides both a widget which can be included in any widgetized theme, and a shortcode which can be included in any post or page.

There’s more information on the PetrolPrices.com feeds page, and the plugin can be downloaded from WordPress.org.

Today saw the launch of a new format of data feed for affiliates of PetrolPrices.com — an XML data feed.  This new feed is designed for advanced affiliate partners and has the same flexible options as the existing Javascript feed (and to some extent the iframe feed include), allowing users to specify exactly what area of the UK the average cover, or fetching the averages for the whole of the UK.

The feed was added at the request of one of the site’s affiliate partners who wanted a more flexible way of displaying the data on their site.  We hope to soon release a simple Wordpress plugin using the site’s feeds to allow Wordpress users to include the data easily in their blog.

More information on the three different types of feed are available on the PetrolPrices.com feeds help page.

I read with interest an article on guardian.co.uk today about the Government’s plan to open up a number of their datasets for use by 3rd parties without charge.

This is a very interesting development for us here at Fubra.  We run a number of sites, such as OurProperty.co.uk, which present Government data in an accessible format to the public.  Not only will this create a whole range of new possibilities for existing sites to present data mashups, but it’ll also open up the existing market place to new competition forcing the existing sites to up their game to stay alive.  Depending on the quantity and quality of the data, it could be a very interesting period indeed.