Editing Yelp (CDSW)

[[File:Yelp Logo.svg|right|300px]]

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In this project, we will explore a few ways to gather data using the Yelp API. Once we've done that, we will extend the example code to create our own dataset from Yelp.

== Goals ==

* Get set up to build datasets with the Yelp API
* Have fun collecting different types of data from Yelp using a variety of ways to search
* Practice reading and extending other people's code
* Create a few collections of Yelp data to use in your projects

== Prerequisite ==

To participate in the Yelp afternoon session, you ''must'' have registered with Yelp as a developer before the session by following the [[Yelp API Key|Yelp authentication setup instructions]]. If you did not do this, or if you tried but did not succeed, please attend one of the other two sessions instead.

== Download and test the Yelp project ==

If you are confused by these steps, go back and refresh your memory with the [[Community_Data_Science_Workshops_(Fall_2015)/Day_0_setup_and_tutorial|Day 0 setup instructions]]

(Estimated time: 10 minutes)

===Download the Yelp API project===

* Right click the following file, click "Save Target as..." or "Save link as...", and save it to your Desktop directory: http://communitydata.cc/~mako/yelp-api-cdsw.zip
* The ".zip" extension on the above file indicates that it is a compressed Zip archive. We need to "extract" its contents. To do this on Windows, click on "Start", then "Computer".  If you are a Mac, open Finder and navigate to your Desktop directory. Find <code>yelp-api-cdsw.zip</code> on your Desktop and double-click on it to "unzip" it. That will create a folder called <code>yelp-api-cdsw</code> containing several files.

===Enter your API information===

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'''On Windows'''

* Start your text editor (probably Notepad++ if you [[Windows text editor|installed it following our instructions last time]]). Navigate to the directory that contains Yelp API (probably something of the form <code>C:\Users\'''YOURUSERNAME'''\Desktop\yelp-api-cdsw</code>).

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'''On Mac'''

* Start your text editor (probably TextWrangler if you installed it following [[OSX text editor|our instructions]]). Navigate to the directory that contains the Yelp API project (probably something of the form <code>~/Desktop/yelp-api-cdsw</code>).

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* Open up the file <code>yelp_authentication.py</code> in your text editor.
* You will see four lines that include one variable "APIkey". 
* Find the API key you created and wrote-down in "Create App" when you followed the [[Yelp authentication setup]]. Change the string that says CHANGE_ME into a string that includes the key you downloaded. Remember that since this is a string, we need to include quotations marks around them. 

Once you have done this, your example programs are set up to use the Yelp API!

===Test the Yelp API code===

# start your Jupyter notebook
# navigate to yelp-api-cdsw
# click on yelp1_business_search.ipynb
# run the script

== Potential exercises ==

# Search in a different places (your home town?)
# Change your search in some way described in the API documentation (e.g., use a category filter)
# Instead of rating information, print out phone numbers... but what we will do if we don't have phone numbers?
# Open a file and save the answers to a file instead of just printing them out
# How many shops can you get information on at a time? what happens if you ask for more? how many do you get then?
# What is the highest rated falafel place in Seattle?
# What is the highest rated business in Seattle?
# Of all the highly rated restaurants you can see with an API search, how many have less than 100 reviews?
# Make an interactive version that prompts users for input.

== Congratulations!==

You now know how to capture data from Yelp that you can use in your research! Next workshop we'll play with some fun analytical tools.

[[Category:CDSW]]