Using Open APIs In Mobile Apps Activity

Title	Using Open APIs in Mobile Application Development
Overview	In this activity students will learn about Open APIs, how does it relate to open source and how to use in building a mobile application.
Prerequisite Knowledge	CS2 using Java and basics of Android development
Learning Objectives	To understand what an Open API is. To understand how open APIs relate to open source. To be able to use open APIs in mobile application development To specifically use the wheelsmap API to build a simple Android accessibility application.

Background:

This activity is meant to educate students about open APIs and how to use them in Android app development. The activity is targeted for crisis management APIs to emphasize the humanitarian aspect of HFOSS.

Directions:

Part 1

1. What is an Open API? What is REST? How and why is it open ?

http://searchcloudapplications.techtarget.com/definition/open-API

1. What is the difference between open source and open API?

http://toni.org/2007/01/30/open-source-vs-open-apis/

Write a one page summery compiling your understanding of these readings.

Part 2

FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) has made some of its data public through a REST API http://www.fema.gov/data-feeds#APIs The released data sets are listed in http://www.fema.gov/data-feeds#APIs and include the following:

• Housing Assistance Owners
• Housing Assistance Renters
• Registration Intake and Individuals Household Program
• Public Assistance Funded Projects: Summary
• Public Assistance Funded Projects: Details
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Property Acquisitions
• Hazard Mitigation Grants
• Disaster Declarations Summaries

For example, the following http request retrieves data for Housing Assistance Owners. Run the http request on your browser and copy a couple of records from the result in your report. http://www.fema.gov/api/open/v1/HousingAssistanceOwners

This output is in JSON format.

Part 3

Develop an Android App that provides an interactive interface to search and display a data feed from the FEMA data sets. Your App should use the sample code attached to retrieve data from an API and your task will be to design and develop and App that displays this data.

Deliverable:

• A report including answers for part 1 and part 2
• A .zip and .apk of your Android app.

Assessment:

How will the activity be graded?

How will learning will be measured?

Include sample assessment questions/rubrics.

Comments:

Android Development, JSON data model

Additional Information:

Knowledge Area/Knowledge Unit	SE - Software Engineering / SE Requirements Engineering from ACM_Body_of_Knowledge
Topic	Application Development, Open APIs
Level of Difficulty	Medium- Challenging
Estimated Time to Completion	6-8 hours
Materials/Environment	Internet access, Android Studio installed
Author	Ruby ElKharboutly
Source	N/A
License	Creative Commons CC-BY

Suggestions for the Open Source Project:

Suggestions for an open source community member who is working in conjunction with the instructor.

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