The whole site is there because we want the data to be open for groups like MySociety, LittleSis, and other open projects who can't afford to spend £4k on a snapshot from Companies House. The reason there are limits at all is that we can't afford to keep buying the data and we wanted to allow for a mechanism to fund the purchase of updated datasets. That said, I think having totally free access to some gradually ageing data is still way better than having limited access to up-to-date data. How we go about that is completely up for debate, and I'd really like some ideas. I'm not particularly keen on the logins because they mess with the API, so they'll probably go away soon.
As for losing the space - it's looong gone. :) There's tonnes of companies that sell Companies House appointment reports for a tenner or more. If we compete at all, it'll be half-heartedly. Profit (or even breaking even) is definitely not our aim here, we just wanted to get the data out there where people can do Good Stuff™ with it. On 17 Apr 2010, at 15:53, Francis Irving wrote: > Why does it require sign in before you can see the data? > > Is it a legal or a business reason? > > The big big loss in requiring login, is you will lose any hits from > search engines for the names of people and companies. If you possibly > can take it off, I'd advise you to do it now, or someone else will > later and you'll lose the space. > > Well done on making the data that you have available. A really good > step. > > Francis > > On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 03:14:16PM +0100, Matt Robinson wrote: >> Wotcha, >> >> Thought that some of you might be interested in >> http://directors.mapofpower.com/ – we bought the Companies House appointment >> snapshot and dropped it into a quick little searchable symfony app so you >> can browse the data - it's the directors and secretaries of every UK >> company, cross-linked. Quite handy for looking up your PPCs, ex-MPs, etc. >> Also handy (if you're a childish prat like me) for looking up funny names >> (see if you can beat Minge Fan, or Arse Plems Kyentu). >> >> I was wanting to work on it a bit more before making it public, but we just >> haven't had time. If anyone wants to help out on it, please get in touch, >> I'd really appreciate it, especially if you grok RDF. We're particularly >> keen on getting JSON & RDF output running, making the annotations work (half >> done), and putting some kind of API-key thing on it so that we can keep it >> free for good causes (like MySociety, DemocracyClub, etc), while managing to >> make a little bit of money back from others so we can afford to buy updated >> data snapshots (they're £4k each, so not insanely expensive, but not exactly >> free either). >> >> By way of introduction - hi, I'm Matt, I've been lurking here for about a >> year since I started developing WhoKnowsWho at Tui for Channel 4. Myself and >> a couple of colleagues sort of lurk around, belligerently doing good things. >> I open-sourced WKW, and am currently working on a UK network for >> LittleSis.org. A couple of my colleagues designed the London Datastore. >> >> -- >> Matt Robinson >> http://inanimatt.com/ >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> Mailing list [email protected] >> Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: >> https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public > > > -- > Help beat party propaganda during this Election - www.democracyclub.org.uk > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list [email protected] > Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: > https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
