Guide to requesting CMD observations
CMD Datasets
Using the ‘Explore our data’ services you can request data from a specific version of a dataset. This is done with a GET request providing a single dimension option for each dimension. The URL follows the following structure:
/datasets/{datasetId}/editions/{edition}/versions/{version}/observations?time={timeLabel}&geography={geographyID}&dimension3={dimension3ID}&dimension4={dimension4ID}...
Example URI;
/datasets/cpih01/editions/time-series/versions/6/observations?time=Oct-11&geography=K02000001&aggregate=cpih1dim1A0
As well as the requested data, the response provides links to code lists for individual items requested, any observation level metadata/information (e.g coefficients of variation) and links to original dataset and complete metadata.
{
"dimensions": {
"aggregate": {
"option": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/code-lists/cpih1dim1aggid/codes/cpih1dim1A0",
"id": "cpih1dim1A0"
}
},
"geography": {
"option": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/code-lists/uk-only/codes/K02000001",
"id": "K02000001"
}
},
"time": {
"option": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/code-lists/time/codes/Mar-18",
"id": "Mar-18"
}
}
},
"limit": 10000,
"links": {
"dataset_metadata": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/datasets/cpih01/editions/time-series/versions/6/metadata"
},
"self": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/datasets/cpih01/editions/time-series/versions/6/observations?time=Mar-18&aggregate=cpih1dim1A0&geography=K02000001"
},
"version": {
"href": "https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/datasets/cpih01/editions/time-series/versions/6",
"id": "6"
}
},
"observations": [
{
"observation": "105.1"
}
],
"offset": 0,
"total_observations": 1,
"unit_of_measure": "Index: 2015=100"
}
Time
The time dimension is treated slightly differently from all other dimensions and you need to use the time label, rather than the ID. This is beacause all IDs for a certain ‘type’ of time, e.g Months, are currently the same.
Wildcard
This endpoint allows a single dimension to be replaced with a wildcard (‘*’) to return all values for this dimension.
Example URI
/datasets/cpih01/editions/time-series/versions/6/observations?time=*&aggregate=cpih1dim1A0&geography=K02000001
This is currently limited to 10,000 observations.