Open data application programming interfaces (APIs) for IoT data in smart cities and communities

A growing number of smart cities and administrations are inclined to collaborate and mutualize their efforts and resources for IoT deployments and open data sharing. This Recommendation studies the concept and potential of developing a secure open and interoperable API in the context of IoT deployment and open data management in smart cities. It subsequently specifies an open and interoperable API for secure open data architecture, as well as for supporting IoT data interoperability for smart cities. This Recommendation presents a complete set of Open APIs dedicated to smart cities offering different features covering the needs of interoperable smart city framework development. In order to achieve interoperability between heterogeneous platforms and the development of smart cities, the Recommendation has proposed "interoperability points" in southbound and northbound interfaces in a smart city framework. It provides a list of core API sets focusing on data interoperability, including context data management APIs, data transactions APIs, data storage APIs and security APIs. Through the mechanism of subscriptions, it is possible to get a performant and scalable context data managment. The data storage APIs allow a granular management of the saved data for all cases. The data transaction APIs facilitate exposure and access to the data through a data marketplace. In addition, security and privacy APIs are seriously taken into account to provide secure data exchange. It should be noted that data interoperability with open APIs can be completed by using common data models, which is briefly discussed.