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API

Developer tools

API

You can use our data in your own systems by accessing it via our API. Here you can find out how to access and use the LGIP API.

Access and use

The API is available to anyone, local authorities and developers alike.
Our API is free to use but there's a small limit imposed, perfect for small apps and websites. There's also a premium option with a more flexible limit for larger organisations in need of wide data feeds.
There are three security mechanisms for using the web services.
OAuth uses a per-organisation shared secret/access token combination, which prevents access from unauthorised parties.
You'll need to request a key in order to use the API or data tools. We offer these out for free but limit your total data consumption to 500 MB.
You can build data calls to extract data from the API using our data tool (beginners), or try building your own calls using our web method tool (advanced).
Summary of why an HTTP 401 Unauthorized error may occur when you make a call to the API

Web methods

You will need some programming experience or the help of a friendly techie to use the API.
Brief overview of API changes from September 2023, including planned enhancements and deprecations

Data tool

You can use Power BI to build dashboards and analyse data using our API.
Ways of finding the right metric type(s) for use in the Data tool and elsewhere within LG Inform and LG Inform Plus.
How to define a custom metric type such as a percentage per resident, based on a formula of existing metric types.
Our data tool can be used to build web methods, ready to insert into any applications you're building, but it can also be used to find data not available in the reports.