Data APIs: How to make the most of live 'open' data

The article discusses the challenges developers face when accessing and using public APIs for real-time open data, focusing on live public transport updates. It highlights that while examples like Transport for London showcase the benefits of real-time open data, such large-scale success stories are rare due to various obstacles. These include polling taking up time and resources, fragmented data structures, and some data sets being more open than others. The article suggests solutions such as using push-based systems instead of pull-based ones, standardizing data structures across sectors, and imposing generous limits on public data providers.