Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffers242
Hi this might be a little of a noob question but i just started to learn to develop for ios. I am looking for a site that you can buy information to put in your app. like locations of stores or weather information or coupons stuff like that. I googled iphone information databases and everything in between but did not find what i was looking for. Not sure if this is a api or not. If anyone knows sites that sell this kind of information it would be a great help. Thank you
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Well - it's kinda a noob question. Let's improve your Google-fu ...
NOTE: most of the information below is US-specific, but it's reasonably applicable to Western nations. YMMV.
A) The big-bad federal government
The government tracks ALOT of data. Like "parsecs" of it (hey - if Lucas can screw up the definition to sound cool, so can I!). For example, you can pull a list of farmer's markets from data.gov, a not-so-complete list of golf courses, malls, etc. from the Census Bureau, top 10 most wanted from the FBI, etc. The information is almost always completely free (well, taxes - so it's like everybody's chipping in) and you can slice & dice however you want.
Figure out what department, agency, bureau, etc. is MOST likely to contain the data you are looking for and start there. Use first.gov, data.gov, and Google.
BTW - weather is the "National Weather Service". Google it. RSS feeds / ftp / web services - pick your poison.
B) The not-so-big-just-as-bad state governments
If you're looking for truly strange datasets the states are usually your best bet. Want a list of all the elevators in the state of Florida? It's in the same place as a list of all the barbershops -
Instant Public Records - DBPR.
Unfortunately the states tend to be less organized than the feds. Some level of patience and insanity is required.
C) The small-and-not-so-bad county governments
Floor plans of buildings, traffic studies, REALLY detailed schematics of power lines & other utility conduits (better than the ones at the state level).
Problem is - at this level, you start going crazy. There's one federal government, 50 states governments (let's ignore the territories for now) - but each state could have 50+ counties, and each county could have hundreds of cities. Details explode at the state level, but go freaking nuclear at the county.
D) Google, Yahoo, et. al.
Your Google-fu is truly awful if you've never looked at code.google.com
I'm going to be generous and assume you wanted an in-app database to be available without a network connection, because otherwise the answer to your question is "Google Places API".
Yahoo has similar web services. Both companies services are "somewhat" free - make sure you read the terms and conditions and FOLLOW THEM!
E) Professional boards, clubs, private organizations
There's a newsletter for everything. Which means there's a membership list - and it's frequently public.
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You didn't mention what kind of "store" you were looking for. A store that sells alcohol, for example, would have to have a license and that would be available in a state database (Google for liquor license, find the department, look for a "Public Records" or "Publications" link generally). Other stores may also be under restriction (bulk lot animal feed, pr0n, etc.) and so there would usually be a paper trail. Failing that - at the state level either the Dept of State or Dept of Commerce would have a list of all businesses (hint: tax rolls).
Moral: don't buy free data.
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