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Quick and Dirty API

Here are the key pieces:

• /layers/top_level_themes/

  • This returns an object containing one key-value pair:
    • "top_level_themes": an array of objects representing the themes in their prescribed order
  • Each object  has these fields:
    • "id" - the Theme's primary key in the database
    • "display_name" - how the Theme should be labelled in the UI
    • "name" - a human-readable, sluggified version of the display name
    • "theme_type" - dictates the logic and display of the theme's child LAYERS
      • "checkbox" - select and load any number of layers at a time
      • "radio" - selecting one layer unselects any other active layers (radio button)
      • "" - defaults to 'checkbox' behavior
    • "is_visible" - if true, show the theme, if false, hide it. Default to true.

• /layers/children/<theme_id>

  • Returns an ordered list of objects belonging to a Theme, each representing a child, either a Theme or a Layer
  • {
    • 'id' - the layer or theme's primary key in the database
    • 'name' - the display name to be used
    • 'metadata' - a link to the layer's metadata if available (if this is a theme, we apply this metadata link to all layer children)
    • 'source' - a link to the layer's source if available (not applicable for theme)
    • 'data_download' - a link to download the data, if available (not applicable for theme)
    • 'kml' - a link to the layer as KML, if available (not applicable for theme)
    • 'description' - string with embedded HTML describing the layer or theme with a link to view it in the data catalog
    • 'type' - "layer" or "theme"
      • If layer:
        • 'minzoom' - the furthest out zoom level (lowest: using webmap tile indexing) to display the layer at
        • 'maxzoom' - the furthest in zoom level (highest: using webmap tile indexing) to display the layer at
      • If theme:
        • 'theme_type' - "radio", "checkbox", ""
          • 'is_dynamic' - certain themes dynamically load layer records from querying service endpoints rather than relying on our curated database.
          • 'url' - an ArcREST endpoint to query for Child Layers (example: "https://oceandata.rad.rutgers.edu/arcgis/rest/services/CAS_VTR_BTSmall")
          • 'placeholder_text' : A prompt to print in a field we use for a typeahead search of the dynamically-queried ArcREST layers
          • 'default_keyword' : If a user has NOT typed anything into the field to search the ArcREST dynamically loaded layers, we 'pre-query' those layers to show a default selection of layers that are high-level and likely of interest to a broad group of users.
            • In the case of our "Fishing - Communities at Sea (by Port) -> Bottom Trawl < 65 ft" dynamic Theme (ID 626 here) the value is 'Total'. We first query for the services using the 'url' value:
              • https://oceandata.rad.rutgers.edu/arcgis/rest/services/CAS_VTR_BTSmall/?f=pjson
              • This gives us 4 services to display as if they were Themes: 1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010, and 2011-2015
              • If we open '1996-2001' the endpoint becomes: https://oceandata.rad.rutgers.edu/arcgis/rest/services/CAS_VTR_BTSmall/1996_2000/MapServer/?f=pjson
                • That gives us 50+ layers, but if we filter those by applying our 'default_keyword' "Total" to their "name" fields, we get a nice subset to show:
                  • 

• To determine how to display the layer (get it's source technology type to infer API, format, etc...) we fall back on the v1 API:

  • /data_manager/get_layer_details/<layer_id>
  • Get_layer_details API v1

• Other useful endpoints:

  • /data_manager/get_layer_search_data (also from API v1)
    • We use this to populate a typeahead search field
    • Returns: An ordered object where each key is a layer's display name, and the value is an object:
      • "layer": {
        • id 
        • name 
        • has_sublayers (legacy, ignore for v2)
        • sublayers (legacy)
      • }
      • "theme": {
        • id 
        • name 
        • description
      • }