I use Skyscanner a lot myself, and one thing I don't like is the fact that I get redirected when I want to book. I want to know what the obstacles are in having a solution where you can book your flights without being redirected and without necessarily being a reseller/travel agent.
The objective is to make comparison shopping seamless.
I understand low-budget carriers prefer booking only on their site, but perhaps their strategy can be integrated within the comparison site.
I also understand that carriers would want customer analytics, but this can be made fully available to them.
What are the reasons for example KLM, Airfrance etc might NOT want to make comparison shopping seamless?
I have been a main developer for one of such website which uses such APIs. I would list many reasons but also it is a good practice not to do so.
Just some reasons off the top of my head.
1) It is not the purpose of such websites. They just join an affiliate program to redirect users and get some small fees for purchases. They would keep their system as simple as possible.
2) Airline and other provider like hotels have their own policy on fees, refund, purchase, loyalty points etc. As a third party, you can not implement such a thing for each provider. If you dont implement, then you would use API, right? They wouldn't expose such inner workings of their system to third parties, payment involves PCI compliance, customer confidentiality etc.
3) Such services involve certain confidentiality and privacy. Somebody's passport, staying at a particular hotel or flying on a particular plane is sensitive information and should not be available to third parties.
Just imagine how many third parties their API are available. No trusted company would allow this to happen.
4) Even if they allow, no third party can really ensure security of such sensitive information. If a breach of security happens, thousands of airline data etc. would be affected.
5) Each of airline and hotels might be subject to different jurisdictions in terms of data protection etc. It is technically impossible to combine them.
many many other reasons..... There are also many issues in handling payment, accounting etc.
Related
I have been looking online and saw many similar/same posts but all were extremely old (latest I found was from 2011) so since technology changes, I thought I ask too.
I wonder how a flight comparison website (where you cannot book flights and can only be redirected to other websites) get their data.
Is it all by now through api's or is it throgh scrapping data (which would be not so reliable)? Ive been reading online, trying to find out if thats the case but it doesnt really seem that EVERY airline and EVERY flight search website (with booking option) provides an api. So I wonder how sites like Kayak get their data if not every airline/every flight booking website provides an api?
Also, I came across some api's like
QPX Express API
skyscanner travel api (which I checked out on some website which is using it and it does seem that data is quite limited ?!)
Travelport api
Amadeus API
Sabre travel api
Wego Affiliate Network (which seems really great but search takes super long)
I wonder if anyone has experience with the mentioned api's and how good their are /if using them is 'the way' of doing it or if its actually much more realiable to request data directly from each airline and booking website (if thats possible)?
Thanks a lot!
If we take Kayak as the example, as that is who you mentioned, they approach the data in two forms.
They have API PULL connections to GDS companies (i.e. Sabre), some airlines and large online travel companies such as Expedia etc.
Smaller airlines in particular PUSH their inventory and fares from their inventory to companies such as Kayak.
Aggregation companies generally provide PUSH access though companies who want to PUSH their data have to comply with the aggregators requirements/standards.
It is a supply and demand service. Aggregation companies will generally request access to large established companies, however, will also allow companies to push their data to them if they wish.
The data is not normally scrapped, it is through API and web service platforms.
I have been looking into various different APIs which can provide my the weather data I need in JSON format. A lot of these API's have certain limits such as: in order to get more requests per minute, you need to pay more money per month so that your app can make more API requests.
However, a lot of these API's also have free account which five you limited access to them.
So what I was thinking is, wouldn't it be possible for a developer to just make lots of different developer accounts with an API provider and then just make lots of different API keys?
That way, they wouldn't have to pay anything as they could stick with the free accounts. Whenever one of the API keys has reached the maximum daily request calls, the developer could just put a switch statement in their code which gets their software to use a different API key.
I see no reason why this wouldn't work from a technical point of view... but, is such a thing allowed?
Thanks, Dan.
This would technically be possible, and it happens.
It is also probably against the service's terms, a good reason for the service to ban all your sock puppet accounts, and perhaps even illegal.
If the service that offers the API has spent time and money implementing a per-developer limit for their API, they have almost certainly enforced that in their terms of service, and you would be wise to respect those.
(relevant xkcd)
I'm going to try to phrase this as a generic question.
A company runs a website that has a lot of valuable information on it. This information is queried from an internal private database. So technically, the information in the database is the valuable part.
If this company wished to develop an API that developers could use to access their database of valuable & useful information, what approach should the company take?
It's important to give developers what they need. But it is also important to keep competing websites from essentially using the API to steal everything and essentially steal all traffic from the company's website.
Is there was some way the API could be used in a way that drives traffic back to the original company's website somehow? Something that gives users a reason to keep going there.
This is a design consideration that my company is struggling with that I can imagine other web-based services have come across before.
Institute API keys - don't make it public. Maybe make the signup process more complex than "anyone with an e-mail address".
Rate limit the API based on keys. If you're running more than X requests a minute, you're likely mining the database.
Don't provide a "fetch everything" API. Make the users know something to get information on it. Don't reveal what you know.
I've seen a lot of companies giving out API keys and stating a TOS that all developers must adhere to. For example, any page that uses data from the API must include your logo and a link back to your website. If any developer is found breaking the rules, the API key can be cancelled and your data is safe again.
Who is meant to use the API?
A good general method of solving this problem is to limit access to the data to end users (rather than allow applications or developers at it). Provide applications and users with identification, each, and make sure that to access a subset of the data, a combination of both user and application key is required.
Following this pattern, each user will have access to a very limited subset of the data (presumably, the data that they require for their own specific use), and you can put measures in place to enforce this. Any attempts at data-mining will become obvious.
This type of approach meshes well with capability-type security models on the server side.
I'm looking into building a web app that allows multiple e-commerce stores to coexist on the same installation and lets allows each individual vendor manage their own products, pricing, sales reports, etc. I know that there have been a number of previous questions on the Stack regarding the best shopping cart software, but this is a bit of an unusual twist and I couldn't find it answered elsewhere.
Obviously, open source is better from a pricing standpoint, but I've got no problem with spending money on a quality product that meets my needs. The ideal package would allow each store to be uniquely skinned, would minimize the amount of time that it takes to get a new store up and running, and would include payment gateway and shipping integration.
I've run across a few things in my scouring of the web, but haven't found "the one" yet--I know that osCommerce sort of supports what I'm trying to do, but I'm looking for something designed with this functionality in mind. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Justin
I am at present looking into the same thing. After looking at all the different cart on the market I have settled on PHP Mall 2. I have had demos of X-Cart Pro, iscripts multicart and a few others.
There were only 2 that were any good at handling payments direct from buyer to seller without any added costs of have a mod done for that. They were PHP Mall 2 and iScripts Multi cart. iScripts Multicart didn't really have alot happening in the backend, and vendor shops were really just an about us page with their products showing.
I settled for PHP Mall 2 becuase each vendor can have their own website as such and can customise it to the way they want it. They can choose from a number of templates for their shop.
The part I really like about it is the payments system, there are a number of payment gateways out of the box and the vendor can choose which ever he/she wants. (because not everyone use paypal right!). Its also a fair bit cheaper than all the others and provides alot more from a site admin and seller admin side of things.
I was tasked with looking into a multi vendor cart for a project that was canceled. Before it got canceled, I felt that the below were strong contenders. This is not a comprehensive list but it's somewhere to start. The requirement for multi vendor was paramount, so the listed have varying amounts of CMS/blogging etc; so they are not necessarily apples to apples.
I did get to try out magento community and using information found here http://www.magentocommerce.com/boards/viewthread/145/ got what I felt was the correct experience for multi store/vendor for my purposes. Mileage may vary depending on requirements. It's a beast though and for some reason comparison doesn't indicate the multi vendor capabilities. My impression was that Magento was definitely for the technically minded, with a very high degree of configurability available. It's a meta system for sure. The average joe business owner wouldn't stand a chance with it. However, it might be a perfect for resellers.
http://www.x-cart.com/mall_solution.html
http://www.php-shop-system.com/products/iq-cart-for-joomla-our-new-cart-component-for-joomla.html
http://www.magentocommerce.com/product/compare
I am also in search of a multi-store solution. Magento Commerce is too expensive. OpenCart now supports multi-shop but only a single user can manage the stores. I would have preferred setting up multiple stores and have different users manage each store.
I've also been undertaking research within this area and discovered the following options;
For joomla = http://www.ijoobi.com, IXXO
For Magento = http://www.unirgy.com, MVDE
There is also an interesting product called MultiCart from iScripts, and the X-Cart Pro from Qualiteam.
I have a task to validate addresses entered into a system I am currently creating. The system requires that address entered are validated against a valid data source. In the UK the dataset comes from the Royal Mail and is expensive to access.
The data needed is post code info for the whole of europe to start with accessed by an API into the web application.
There are a number of companies that offer this service,
QAS
Capscan
Postcode anywhere
These all offer the service I require. However this is expensive and in some cases not a complete data set. e.g. not Ireland
I was also wondering if there would be a way to utilize the Google Maps API to validate this data via postal code and country.
Would the google maps method be possible or do I have to go down the line of one of these expensive companies? Any thoughts on what line I should take.
The answer probably depends how critical it is for you to receive support and possible customization for this service.
Google can certainly do this. Look into their XML and Geocoding API's. You should be able to craft an XML message asking Google to return Map coordinates for a given address. If the address is not found (invalid), you will receive an appropriate response. Here's a useful page: http://code.google.com/apis/maps/documentation/services.html#XML_Requests
Note that Google's aim in providing the Maps API is to plot addresses on actual maps. While you can certainly use the data for other purposes, you are at the mercy of Google should one of their maps not exactly correspond to your legal or commercial address validation needs. If you paid for one of the services you mentioned, you would likely be able to receive support should certain addresses not resolve the way you expect them to.
In other words, you get what you pay for ;) . If you have the time, though, why not try implementing a Google-based solution then going from there? The API looks pretty slick, and it's free, after all.
Google's geocoding api does what want you want. As Xerus points out, as long as you are not using the geocoded points on a non-google Map, you should be good (terms of service). Specifically,
3.1 Use without a Google Map. Customer may use Google Maps Content from the Geocoding API in Customer Applications without a corresponding Google Map.
3.3 No use with a non-Google map. Customer must not use Google Maps Content from the Geocoding API in conjunction with a non-Google map.
I am both a web developer and a former employee of one of the companies you mentioned. I completely understand where you're coming from. Verifying addresses seems like a simple problem to tackle, but it's very much an iceberg. I suppose one workaround to the legal constraints of the Google or Yahoo! Maps APIs is to request your users verify their addresses on a map. If I were in your shoes, though, I wouldn't go that route.
The reason address verification services are so expensive is that they require licenses and ongoing relationships with grumpy, bureaucratic postal authorities (including the Royal Mail). Unfortunately, postal authorities are the best (and often the only) sources of data against which to verify addresses, so there really isn't any other way to go about it. The bottom line is you need to weigh the cost of bad addresses (usually a question of mail volume) against the cost of the software to verify them. Irish postal data is even more rubbish than Irish postal formats (which frequently omit building numbers), so there's little you can do about those addresses.
The answer depends upon the degree of confidence you place in the data and how your data is being used. For example, if you're using it for mailing or shipping, you'll want to be be confident that the data is correct. If you're just using it as another fraud-prevention mechanism then you could potentially allow a degree of error to creep into the data.
If you want any degree of real accuracy, you're need to go with a service that does real address verification and you're going to have to pay for it. As has been mentioned by Adam, address verification and validation at first seems simple and easy, but it's a black hole fraught with challenges and, unless you've some underlying data to work with, virtually impossible to do by yourself. Trust me, you're actually saving money by using a service. You're welcome to go down this road yourself to experience what I mean, but I can guarantee you'll see the light, so to speak, after even a few hours (or days) of spinning your wheels.
I should mention that I'm the founder of SmartyStreets. We do address validation and verification addresses and we offer this for the USA and international as well. I'm more than happy to personally answer any questions you have on the topic of address cleansing, standardization, and validation.
Another option is YADDRESS.
Validate it against FedEx's api. They have an API to generate labels from XML code. The process involves a step to validate the address.
Google basis (free) does not provide address verification (Geocoding) as there is no UK postcode license.
This means postcode searches are very in-accurate. The proximity search is very poor, even for town searches, often not recognising locations.
This is why Google have a premier and a enterprise solution which still is more expensive and not as good as business mapping specialists like bIng and Via Michelin who also have API's.
As a free lance developer, so serious business would use Google as the system is weak and really provides a watered down solution.
I know that this post is a bit old but incase anyone finds it still relevant you might want to check out the free geocoding services offered by USC College. This does included address validation via ajax and static calls. The only catch is that they request a link back and only offer allotments of 2500 calls. More than fair.
https://webgis.usc.edu/Services/AddressValidation/Default.aspx
You could consider using CDYNE's PAV-I API that validates international addresses. international-address-verification They cover over 240 countries, so it should cover all of the countries that you are looking to validate for.
A great blog describing 14 address finders:
https://www.conversion-uplift.co.uk/free-address-lookup-tools/
Many address autocomplete services, including Google's Places API, appears to offer international address support but it has limited accuracy.
For example, New Zealand address and geolocation data are free to download from Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). When a user search for an address such as 76 Francis St Hauraki from Google or Address Doctor, a positive match is returned. The land parcel was matched but not the postal/delivery address, which is either 76A or 76B. The problem is amplified with apartments and units on a single land parcel.
For 100% accuracy, use a country-specific address finder instead such as https://www.addy.co.nz for NZ address autocomplete.