d4c-api

A multi-language client for accessing Canadian data. This repository provides a unified interface to fetch:

Statistical data processed by the d4c-datapkg-statistical repository.

Purpose

The goal of this project is to provide a consistent way to query metadata and raw data across different programming environments. As the connectivity and retrieval layer for the Data for Canada (d4c) project, this API facilitates access to a decentralized, cloud-native open data infrastructure for Canada.

Core Technologies

This service layer is built to interface with modern cloud-native formats while maintaining broad compatibility:

FAIR Data Catalogue: For cataloging and discovering underlying datasets.
GeoParquet: An efficient, columnar storage format for vector data, providing the high-performance backend for our services.
GeoZarr: For multidimensional data processing and visualization.
HTTP & P2P: For efficient, decentralized data retrieval and backend distribution.

Multi-Language Support

The core connectivity logic is written in Rust and exported to other languages. This ensures that API calls, authentication methods, and data handling remain identical across all platforms.

Rust: The core crate for direct system-level access and performance-critical tasks.
Python: Idiomatic bindings.
R: Native wrappers.
Other.

Repository Structure

We separate the shared core from the language-specific wrappers:

core/: Rust source code handling HTTP requests, API authentication, and decentralized protocol logic.
bindings/: Language-specific implementations for Python, R, and Other.
labs/: Experimental area for testing new API endpoints or protocol implementations.

Contributing

New features or bug fixes for API connections should be implemented in the core/ directory. Enhancements to the user experience for a specific language should be made in the bindings/ folder.

All contributors must be verified via Vouch before their pull requests are reviewed.

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