Visit Open APIs

Open APIs allow you to acess their data once you have requested a free API key. Exploring open APIs is a good way to get familiar with APIs in general.

Visit openweathermap.org

  1. Go to https://openweathermap.org/
  2. To create a free account, go to https://home.openweathermap.org/users/sign_up. When you complete the form, you see your API key in your e-mail. Copy it!
  3. Click API.
  4. Click API doc
  5. Scroll to Professional collections, scroll to "How to Start."
  6. Copy the https format under API call:
    API call format
  7. To find your latitude and longitude, go to https://www.latlong.net/. Enter a location in this format AUSTIN TX USA.
  8. Fit these values into your URL and press Enter. Here's an example: 
    https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?lat=30.264980&lon=-97.746597&appid={apikey}
  9. Most of us are unfamiliar with the default Kelvin temperature units. Fahrenheit units are not available, so add units=metric: 
    https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?lat=30.264980&lon=-97.746597&units=metric&appid={apikey}

    10. Your output will look similar to this:

    Raw JSON output

  10. In a Firefox browswer, click JSON (as opposed to Raw Data) to see nicer formatting:

    11. This output is in JSON format. For details on JSON, see JSON Introduction. Although the openweather documentation does not so indicate, you can use &zip= instead of latitude and longitude.

Use RapidAPI to Explore APIs

Related Information

RapidAPI Consumer Quick Start Guide. rapidapi.com

List of HTTP status codes. wiki

. w3schools.com

JSON Formatter & Validator. curiousconcept.com

Conversion Calculator. calculator.net

Information and programs provided by admin@mcmassociates.io.