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  API Technical Discussions »

  API Variable Question for ACS2011 5 Year

  Preface: New to API Calls & Census Data (not sure the proper Campaign to post on) Curious, how can I more efficiently pull data through the API without having to specify each individual Unique ID (found in the ACS2011_5-Year_TableShells.xls file)? If I wanted to pull all data for Table ID: B01001 what would my {&get=} be? Currently, I am using each individual Unique ID as so: http://api.census.gov/data/2011/acs5?{key}&get=B01001_001E,B01001_002E,B01001_003E,B01001_004E,B01001_005E,B01001_006E,B01001_007E,B01001_008E,B01001_009E,B01001_010E,NAME&for=state:06 ...more »

  Preface: New to API Calls & Census Data (not sure the proper Campaign to post on)

  Curious, how can I more efficiently pull data through the API without having to specify each individual Unique ID (found in the ACS2011_5-Year_TableShells.xls file)?

  If I wanted to pull all data for Table ID: B01001 what would my {&get=} be?

  Currently, I am using each individual Unique ID as so:

  http://api.census.gov/data/2011/acs5?{key}&get=B01001_001E,B01001_002E,B01001_003E,B01001_004E,B01001_005E,B01001_006E,B01001_007E,B01001_008E,B01001_009E,B01001_010E,NAME&for=state:06

  Is there a syntax for spanning Unique ID values within a single table?

  And why is it that I cannot use the Unique ID value as is outlined in the ACS2011_5-YearTableShells.xls file, rather I need to split the value after the Table ID with an underscore and Unique ID value, as so: B01001002 needs to become B01001_002E inorder for the call to work.

  Any assistance would be most helpful.

  Cheers,

  B

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  2 comments for Idea: API Variable Question for ACS2011 5 Year

  Submitted by brian.hyman 14 days ago

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  Avoid reserved words in parameter names

  'for' and 'in' are reserved words in JavasSript avoiding these words in the parameter names would probably be a good idea, same thing with 'get' which could cause confusion with the http verb.

  3 comments for Idea: Avoid reserved words in parameter names

  Submitted by calvin.metcalf 16 days ago

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  Ignore unknown paramaters

  the api should simply ignore any parameter it doesn't understand instead of throwing an error. For example jquery will append _=randomNumber to prevent caching of jsonp by the browser. This feature breaks that.

  8 comments for Idea: Ignore unknown paramaters

  Submitted by calvin.metcalf 16 days ago

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  JSONP Callback

  The jsonp callback should be 'callback' not 'jsonp' there is no reason you can't have both, but almost every single site that uses jsonp uses callback as the parameter, using something weird prevents people from easily making apps.

  2 comments for Idea: JSONP Callback

  Submitted by calvin.metcalf 16 days ago

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  Median household income by Census Block or Census Block Group

  I need so assistance in creating an API to pull Median Household Income based on a specific address or if that creates a geocoding problem, i have Lat/long coordinates already. My response from the call should be able to provide me with a dollar amount or a percent over national median household income. The result will be used in an equation. I have a key already.

  6 comments for Idea: Median household income by Census Block or Census Block Group

  Submitted by buckles976 17 days ago

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  Open sourced some iOS code!

  I open sourced some code for iOS civic hackers to work with the Census & FCC APIs. Hope you guys find it useful:

  https://github.com/pj4533/AFCensusAPIClient

  https://github.com/pj4533/AFFCCAPIClient

  3 comments for Idea: Open sourced some iOS code!

  Submitted by pjgray 20 days ago

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  Webinar May 15

  May 15, 1pmET, join us for a webinar for app developers interested in the American Community challenge using ACS data in the National Day of Civic hacking. See http://go.usa.gov/T6bW for details.

  Add your comment for Idea: Webinar May 15

  Submitted by Lisa W 1 month ago

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  HTTP Get returning all null values

  Hi,

  I am doing a http get http://api.census.gov/data/2010/sf1?key=user key&get=P0010001,NAME&for=state:* and this succeeds with response of 200, but the JSON elements are null. This same call used to work a few days back, now I get the following: ["P0010001","NAME","state"],["null","null","null"],["null","null","null"],...

  Please help.

  Thank You.

  1 comment for Idea: HTTP Get returning all null values

  Submitted by Community Member 1 month ago

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  Getting places by county

  Is there an API equivalent of the FactFinder search "All Places fully or partially within [County]?"

  Such as http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/P1/0500000US53019.16000P

  1 comment for Idea: Getting places by county

  Submitted by sean 1 month ago

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  Statistics by Zip Code

  I'm doing a project where I require census statistics by Zip Code. I want to look at correlations between several different factors. I have addresses and zip codes.

  To pull in data by zip code what would my API call look like.

  3 comments for Idea: Statistics by Zip Code

  Submitted by mebeweber 1 month ago

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  acs 2011 access issue

  an application that was running last night no longer operates. It is accessing ACS 2011 5 year data at BG level with a multi-item request (fails with just 2). Were changes made that could affect this? Thank you.

  3 comments for Idea: acs 2011 access issue

  Submitted by Community Member 2 months ago

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  income by zip code

  Is there any API which can be used to find average income of people in an area by entering the zip code?

  4 comments for Idea: income by zip code

  Submitted by nishantdialani 2 months ago

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  Polygon, block group and census data

  I would like to get census block group data for various groups that overlap with a polygon map overlay. If I can get the block groups and need say the number of Chinese of ages 18 to 34 in those block groups then how do I do a JavaScript query to get them?

  6 comments for Idea: Polygon, block group and census data

  Submitted by Community Member 2 months ago

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  ACS data for zip code tabulation area

  Hi all, I am trying to use the api to collect information for zip code tabulation areas from the ACS 2011 survey. I have tried several variations of the following url, but get an unsupported/unknown geography error: http://api.census.gov/data/2011/acs5?key={key}&get=B25070_003E&for=zip+code+tabulation+area:*&in=state:06 I have read elsewhere on this form that the 2011 ACS is now available via the API by zip ...more »

  Hi all,

  I am trying to use the api to collect information for zip code tabulation areas from the ACS 2011 survey.

  I have tried several variations of the following url, but get an unsupported/unknown geography error:

  http://api.census.gov/data/2011/acs5?key={key}&get=B25070_003E&for=zip+code+tabulation+area:*&in=state:06

  I have read elsewhere on this form that the 2011 ACS is now available via the API by zip code. Is this correct? If so, what is the proper format to query the API for the ACS survey?

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  2 comments for Idea: ACS data for zip code tabulation area

  Submitted by Community Member 3 months ago

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  issue using 2000 sf1

  this call worked yesterday with slightly different items, but fails today. is this dataset offline, or? thank you.

  http://api.census.gov/data/2000/sf1?key=KEY&get=P009001,P009002,P009003,P009004,P009005,P009006,P009007&for=block+group:1&in=state:06+county:001+tract:400100

  1 comment for Idea: issue using 2000 sf1

  Submitted by Community Member 3 months ago

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  DOL SDK

  Department of Labor has added Census API access to their SDK for iOS. See

  https://github.com/USDepartmentofLabor/DOLDataSDK-iOS

  Add your comment for Idea: DOL SDK

  Submitted by Lisa W 3 months ago

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  AIANHHFP Code

  Need code list for AIA. The SF1 identification section shows this field -- American Indian Area/Alaska Native Area/ Hawaiian Home Land (FIPS) AIANHHFP 5 81 A/N 00001–89999 American Indian area, Alaska Native area, or Hawaiian home land This is apparently the code field required by the API (both SF1 and ACS). Geography division cannot locate this file. most all references are now 4 digit ANSI codes (includiing ...more »

  Need code list for AIA.

  The SF1 identification section shows this field -- American Indian Area/Alaska Native Area/

  Hawaiian Home Land (FIPS) AIANHHFP 5 81 A/N

  00001–89999 American Indian area, Alaska Native area, or Hawaiian home land

  This is apparently the code field required by the API (both SF1 and ACS). Geography division cannot locate this file. most all references are now 4 digit ANSI codes (includiing shapefiles).

  Hoping you can help with code list or revised API structure.

  Thank you.

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  1 comment for Idea: AIANHHFP Code

  Submitted by Community Member 4 months ago

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  ACS2010 sf1 table mapping

  I am trying to make sense of the table name convention for the ACS data. Unlike the 2010 Census SF1 document (http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf), the tables listed in the 2010 ACS SF1 document (http://www2.census.gov/acs2010_5yr/summaryfile/ACS_2006-2010_SF_Tech_Doc.pdf) don't seem to correlate to the api. For example, an attempt to query: B07010: Geographical Mobility In The Past Year By Individual ...more »

  I am trying to make sense of the table name convention for the ACS data.

  Unlike the 2010 Census SF1 document (http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/doc/sf1.pdf), the tables listed in the 2010 ACS SF1 document (http://www2.census.gov/acs2010_5yr/summaryfile/ACS_2006-2010_SF_Tech_Doc.pdf) don't seem to correlate to the api.

  For example, an attempt to query:

  B07010: Geographical Mobility In The Past Year By Individual Income In The Past 12 Months For Current Residence In The United States

  Results in the error: 'Invalid API key or request'

  In looking at api examples for the ACS endpoints, you use table names like B00001_001E, which are not listed with in the ACS sf1 documentation. As an example, B02001_00E is listed as Total Population, but according to the ACS SF1 document the table number for Total Population is B01003.

  Is there logic or a mapping of the ACS SF1 table names to the required API SF1 table names?

  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------

  EDIT:

  Updating for the sake of posterity. A listing of the api field names can be found here:

  Census SF1:

  http://www.census.gov/developers/data/sf1.xml

  ACS SF1:

  http://www.census.gov/developers/data/acs_5yr_2010_var.xml

  It appears that with the ACS datapoints, the table name is converted to field names to take into account Estimates and Margins of Error.

  Reference the XML instead of the SF1 PDFs when accessing the API.

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  1 comment for Idea: ACS2010 sf1 table mapping

  Submitted by tyrauber 4 months ago

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  API Browser

  Is there any place, where can I get all the APIs exposed by Census. [kind of API Browser] . This greatly helps the developers to use the correct API to get the data, what they look for. In addition, it helps to see entire API in one place.

  1 comment for Idea: API Browser

  Submitted by Community Member 4 months ago

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  See all census tracts in a state?

  Is it possible to use the API to fetch all tracts within a state? I tried the following request, but failed:

  http://api.census.gov/data/2011/acs5?key=af4bfcf4a660196ff6a297eadfa70331f&get=NAME,B19013_001E,B19013_001M,NAME&for=tract:*&in=state:02+county:*

  1 comment for Idea: See all census tracts in a state?

  Submitted by Community Member 5 months ago

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  Documentation needed

  I am obviously overlooking something. There must be a better way to determine a "Concept"/"Variable Name" than trudging through the xml file.

  Can someone please point me in the correct direction?

  Thanks

  15 comments for Idea: Documentation needed

  Submitted by gary 5 months ago

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  get the number of register voters per county

  Hello I am new to getting data from the Census. Could use some help. I have now all the states register voters. Now I need to pull register voters for all US counties for an app I am building

  8 comments for Idea: get the number of register voters per county

  Submitted by Community Member 5 months ago

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  Increase in variables per call

  Just a reminder - you can now call up to 50 variables with each API call.

  1 comment for Idea: Increase in variables per call

  Submitted by Lisa W 5 months ago

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  is there a speed limit?

  I wrote a python script to download all the census tract data for four different counties, parse it and save it as csv to upload to our database.

  it works great! except that sometimes only the first and fourth queries return data.

  Is there limit on how fast we can fire off queries to the API?

  7 comments for Idea: is there a speed limit?

  Submitted by percyd 6 months ago

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  Maximum number of variables per request

  Greetings, Though we have provided this infomation in a reply to an existing thread, we also wanted to create a "fresh" post to let everyone know that the maximum number of variables per request has been increased from 4 to 50. The documentation on www.census.gov/developers/ will be updated to reflect this information as well. Thank you to everyone who has provided feekback so far. We do take the feedback into account ...more »

  Greetings,

  Though we have provided this infomation in a reply to an existing thread, we also wanted to create a "fresh" post to let everyone know that the maximum number of variables per request has been increased from 4 to 50. The documentation on www.census.gov/developers/ will be updated to reflect this information as well.

  Thank you to everyone who has provided feekback so far. We do take the feedback into account as we continue to improve the API so please keep it coming.

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  2 comments for Idea: Maximum number of variables per request

  Submitted by david.john.maccormack 7 months ago

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