DataUSA API (Python)

⚠️ Deprecated ⚠️: The API that this documentation refers to (api.datausa.io) went into legacy mode in November 2018, and was be replaced by a newer version of the API with access to new & expanded data: https://datausa.io/about/api/

To learn more about the API, visit the DataUSA API Wiki page or visit the DataUSA Quick Start Guide.

Installation

DataUSA is a web platform built using Flask, an open source Python library for interacting with HTTP. this installation guide is written assuming a Linux or Linux-like environment. The following software is required to be installed locally in order to get DataUSA running:

• Python
• Postgres

1. Clone from Github git clone https://github.com/Datawheel/datausa-api.git

2. [optional] Create a virtual environment. We suggest installing virtualenv with virtualenvwrapper especially if the machine you are using is used for many other web projects. This allows python libraries to be installed easily and specifically on a per proeject basis.

   Once this is complete, run the following to initialize your datausa environment.

   mkvirtualenv datausa
   

3. Install Prerequisites

   sudo apt-get install python-dev
   sudo apt-get install libpq-dev
   

4. Install Python modules

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

5. Set environment variables

   export DATAUSA_DB_NAME=db_name
   export DATAUSA_DB_USER=postgres_user
   export DATAUSA_DB_PW=postgres_pw
   export DATAUSA_DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
   

6. Run api