Download the current data catalog (beta!) by right-clicking on the below link and selecting "Save Link As":

https://raw.github.com/codeforamerica/healthdatagov-csv-metadata/master/healthdatagov_metadata_catalog_beta_060213.csv

healthdatagov-csv-metadata

This is a Ruby script (and quasi-library) that creates an Excel-readable metadata catalog for data sets on HealthData.gov.

It's super hacky right now, but seems to get the job done! And it even has TESTS!

Installation / Usage

This script requires Ruby 1.9.3, RubyGems, and bundler. Installation instructions can be found at: (http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/)[http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/]

To create a metadata catalog, run the following commands in the project directory:

bundle install
ruby create_csv_script.rb

You'll then have a file named healthdatagov_metadata_catalog.csv in the project directory representing metadata for all the datasets available on HealthData.gov.

Code Overview

• healthdatagov_metadata_catalog_beta_060213.csv is the first version of the data catalog
• create_csv_script.rb is a simple script that uses the library to create a csv.
• lib/health_data_catalog.rb is the workhorse library, with a bunch of functions to break down the task of getting data, processing it, and making a catalog

Note: because this is a very-beta version, it uses VCR to save metadata locally. If you are using this to routinely create a catalog, you will want to be sure to delete the vcr_cassettes directory that will be created before running the script again (this flushes all the old data, and will get all new data from the API).

Other Info

This was built by Dave Guarino (@daguar on Github, @allafarce on Twitter) for the National Day of Civic Hacking 2013.

See LICENSE.md for license (BSD)