Open business information repository

Software	DBMS, possibly XML or JSON, server-side programming language
Covers	Databases, possibly XML or JSON, HTML and web interface development
Skills Required	Programming, database design, web interface development
Challenge	Conceptual ?? Technical ?? Programming ??

Brief Description

The aim of the project is to develop a system that maintains a database of information about businesses. The idea is that this is a an open system as opposed to a proprietary database tied to a particular application. The database is freely available to users and acts as a shared resource. The users of the database can either access it at runtime or obtain a download and/or regular updates that they can process into a form that they can use, either of the entire database or of a subset selected by filtering by area or type of business or both. This might take the form of an XML or JSON file. The idea is that business owners or staff can add their businesses to the database themselves through a web interface and keep it up to date.

The project will involve developing a web-based interface to the system for the business owners to use to create and update entries on their own businesses, and some sort of database to store this information. Whether this takes the form of a standard relational database is an open question. It will also involve developing a mechanism for obtaining complete and partial downloads of the database; this should be usable by software systems operating on other systems, so the project should involve producing at least a simple concept demonstrator program that can obtain downloads from the database, or, alternatively, can obtain answers to queries. The download mechanism should have a clean and well-documented API, that should enable the client systems to obtain updates meeting particular criteria.

The project should include a consideration of the business model of the application. How can this be turned into a profitable business based on the idea that lots of clients have computer systems that want access to a database of businesses, but who don't want to build and maintain their own databases? Who would pay for which services, and what would a realistic and affordable price look like? The project should also give some consideration to security issues and the prevention of fraud. How should access to accounts be restricted? Should the content be moderated, to ensure that the system is used honestly and for its intended purpose; if so how? How can the up-to-dateness of the content be assured?

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