Accessing an OData Feed from the Public Open Data Platform

Overview

This article will provide step by step instructions for accessing a data set from the Open Data (data.buffalony.gov) platform.

Instructions

  1. On data.buffalony.gov, search for the dataset you are looking for.
  2. On the "About Data" page, click the blue "Actions" button on the right hand side of the screen.
    An image showing a screenshot of the main landing page for an Open Data data set. The data set information is shown with a red rectangle over the "Actions" button.
  3. From the "Actions" menu, select "Access via oData".A screenshot of the same Open Data landing page with the "Actions" tab activated. A list of Action options is visible with a red rectangle highlighting the "Access via oData option.
  4. Ensure the OData End Point is V4 and click "Copy" to get the URL.The landing page is greyed out in the background and a dialogue box titled "Access this Dataset via OData" is shown in the center of the page. There is a red rectangle highlighting the "OData V4" and "Copy" buttons.
  5. Open a blank Excel workbook and navigate to the "Data" tab.
  6. Under "Get & Transform Data", click the drop down arrow and navigate to "From Other Sources", and then click "From OData Feed".A screenshot of the Excel table. The "Data" tab is highlighted in an orange rectangle. The "From Other Sources" option on the "Get Data" menu is highlighted in a red rectangle, and the "From OData Feed" option in that submenu is highlighted in a yellow rectangle.
  7. Paste the URL of the OData feed into the box and hit "OK".
  8. When prompted, use the "Anonymous" sign in option and select "Connect".
    NOTE: You will only need to complete this step the first time you access an item with an oData feed. Excel will save the credentials for future uses of an OData feed from Open Data.
    A dialogue box shows log in options for the OData feed connection. A red rectangle highlights the "Anonymous" option and a green rectangle highlights "Connect"
  9. Verify the data pulls into the feed and hit "Load" to view the full dataset.A dialogue box showing a portion of the data set is shown over a blank Excel table. A green rectangle highlights the "Load" option.
  10. The dataset will load into Excel. Depending on the size of the dataset, this may take several minutes.
  11. Once the dataset has loaded you can save it to your machine and access it at any time.
    You can select "Refresh" under the "External Table Data" options on the "Table Design" tab at any time to ensure you have the most current version of the dataset. This may take several minutes depending on the size of the dataset and the date the dataset was last updated.
    A screenshot of the Excel table with an orange rectangle highlighting the "Table Design" tab. A red rectangle highlights the "External Table Data" subsection, and a yellow rectangle highlights the "Refresh" option.
  12. You now have an interactive dataset with a link to the Open Data platform that will allow you to access the most current version of the dataset without having to re-download the entire dataset! You can use this data for reporting purposes and any changes you make will only be made to the version used in your current workbook. You cannot change any data on the Open Data site by accessing the dataset in this manner. The link is a one-way access from the Open Data portal to the Excel file, so the only thing that is transferred is updating data from the portal to the Excel file.
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