Open data REST-services

This thesis deals with a possible solution for the shortcomings that result from the common approach of offering Open Data, where the corresponding data sets are offered as downloadable files on a website. Instead, Open Data producers could offer its data via RESTful web services which conform with OData Version 4, an emerging international standard for REST services. This way, one generic client application could be built, which could enable querying and viewing the exposed data and its data model, without needing to download a file or discovering the data model on your own. By using REST services, also other shortcomings of the mentioned approach could be eliminated. In this thesis, prototypes of both an OData Version 4 compliant RESTful web service and a generic client application were implemented in order to show, that such a constellation is feasible. The generic client application has also been tested successfully against other OData Version 4 compliant REST services. Additionally, a questionnaire on OData has been conducted with domain experts. The domain experts confirmed, that OData supports/enables the building of generic client applications for accessing and querying data published via such interfaces.