As you develop your data science and analytics skills, you may find yourself wanting to play with cool data in bigger data sets. It’s not always clear how you can find this data. SPARQL endpoints are one way to access this cool data – and they allow the public to access a whole range of data sets. I’ve picked out a few more interesting ones to get you started.
New to SPARQL? Check out this tutorial
How to connect to SPARQL Endpoints with Excel
Nobel Prize
Nobelprize.org provides some data and analysis about Nobel Prizes on its website, but you can also access it all yourself through their SPARQL end point. You can explore who has won the Prizes, their nationalities and origins, as well as much more besides. Find out more at the Nobel Prize developer zone.
British Museum
The British Museum provides access to its collection records as a SPARQL endpoint. You can explore data on around 750,0000 records relating to the items in its collection, including those in BBC Radio 4’s History of the World in 100 Objects. Get help accessing the data at the British Museum’s developer portal.
NHS
As part of a suite of tools and resources for developers the British National Health Service have made a SPARQL endpoint available. This end point allows developers to explore data on various aspects of security, safety and governance of the NHS.
Worldbank, OECD, Eurostat etc.
Many of the world’s linked datasets are available through 270a, a site created by Sarven Capadisli. UNESCO, the IMF and the Federal Reserve Board all have data available through here. A great place to find cool data.
Scottish Government Statistics
National and local governments are often good sources of plentiful data, and the Scottish Government is no exception. Their statistics and data portal has data on poverty, road deaths and health, as well as other issues which you can probe via their SPARQL endpoint.
British Library
The British Library has opened up its bibliographic data, allowing you to explore its millions of books by author, publication date, key work and more. Visit the British Library getting started guide for their data.
U.S. National Library of Medicine
The U.S. National Library of Medicine SPARQL endpoint gives you access to biomedical information from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) data including information on medical publications, and drugs. Find out more about MeSH and its linked data.
Ordnance Survey
The UK’s Ordnance Survey has its roots in mapping the nation during the Napoleonic Wars. Today the organisation is a large producer of ‘big’ mapping and location data, and had made available some of its boundary and administrative datasets via a SPARQL endpoint.
