Datasette for Polar Bears

datasette-polar-bears.md

Datasette for Polar Bears

I found an interesting looking dataset about Polar Bear ear tag tracking on a USGS website: https://alaska.usgs.gov/products/data.php?dataid=130

I deployed it as a datasette website and API here: https://polar-bears.now.sh/

Here's how I did it:

0. Install datasette and csvs-to-sqlite:

    pip3 install datasette
    pip3 install csvs-to-sqlite
   

1. Download the zip file:

    cd /tmp
    wget https://alaska.usgs.gov/data/polarBear/telemetry/southernBeaufortSea_2009_2011/PolarBear_Telemetry_southernBeaufortSea_2009_2011.zip
   

2. Extract it:

    unzip PolarBear_Telemetry_southernBeaufortSea_2009_2011.zip
   

3. Convert the CSV files into a SQLite database:

    csvs-to-sqlite USGS*.csv polar-bears.db
   

4. Deploy it using datasette, with some metadata:

    datasette publish now /tmp/polar-bears.db \
        --title="Polar Bear Ear Tags, 2009-2011" \
        --source="USGS Alaska Science Center, Polar Bear Research Program" \
        --source_url="https://alaska.usgs.gov/products/data.php?dataid=130" \
        --name=polar-bears
   

5. The above command outputs a URL - let's give it a nicer one:

    now alias polarbears-syhlooyyzd.now.sh polar-bears.now.sh
   

Done! The result can be seen at https://polar-bears.now.sh/