• An Open Data Index that references or hosts datasets
• A Converter that converts XLS or CSV files to Citadel-JSON
• An Application Generator Tool that can create mobile apps using the datasets in
• A Community section build upon a Forum and Rated questions, where people can share experience, ask questions, and find answers

The templates are available on where they can be downloaded. A comprehensive documentation is available, and you will find other detailed instructions and documentation in each of the Github repositories.

The templates use HTML5 and JSON, and also some PHP, JS and CSS. Some applications also use a database (MySQL), and Xively platform is used to demonstrate the use of live sensor data.

The AGT tool uses PHP

The Converter is build in Java, and exists in various versions, as a library, standalone application, and Liferay applet.

The generated apps should work in all recent browsers that support HTML5. Additional effort has also been made to support older versions.

And of course, it is designed to work in all mobile browsers !

You can use the Publish my Dataset section to upload your dataset on the platform. You may also publish your datasets somewhere else, such as in your city datastore, or in any publicly accessible space on the web, and reference them in Citadel platform.

The templates are available on where they can be downloaded. A comprehensive documentation is available, and you will find other detailed instructions and documentation in each of the Github repositories.

The easiest way to find data is to access government open data portal. You can do this by undertaking the following steps:

• Search for "NAME OF YOUR CHOSEN CITY/TOWN" + "open data" in Google.
• Not all governments have released open data so you may have to choose a different city/town. Generally, the larger cities across the UK and globally will have some sort of open data available. Here is a list of government open data portals to help get you started:
  • data.london.gov.uk
  • leedsdatamill.org
  • data.gov.uk
  • ata.glasgow.gov.uk
  • publicdata.eu
  • engagedata.eu
• Search the data portal and find a dataset relating to points of interest/parking/events.
• Download the dataset to your desktop.

Open your dataset in Excel. Use this checklist to ensure that all aspects of the data cleaning process are addressed correctly.

• Follow a standard format in all categories. For example, in the Address category, streets should be labelled consistently, either as "Street" or "St", with the first letter always in upper case (use Excel PROPER function for partial capitalisation). Sometimes, you may also find differences across contexts (e.g. between American and British date formats - 7/12/2012 v 12/31/2012). Following a standard format ensures that data is tidy, delivering a more professional and accurate final outcome in the end.
  • TIP: Use the 'Find and Replace' tool to easily replace data (CTL+F). By clicking 'Replace All', every "St" in the data will be changed to "Street".
• Ensure that data is not missing. Missing data may lead to problems when using the Citadel conversion tools. You are likely to have an error message when trying to convert your dataset if any of your mandatory fields (ID, the name of the place, category, address, latitude and longitude) have missing values. Omitted data can also cause problems when information that users expect from their datasets and resulting applications is unavailable.
• TIP: Zoom out of the dataset (bottom right hand corner of the Excel spreadsheet) to get a good overview of which cells have missing data.
• Ensure that there are no duplicates in the dataset. Duplicates can lead to confusion when datasets are used for important purposes.
• TIP: Use conditional formatting to easily highlight duplicate values in a dataset.
• Split columns of data. You may come across a number of datasets where values are concentrated in a single column, separated by semi-colons or commas. These need to be split to be made more legible and to be worked with more easily. Additionally, the Citadel converter requires data to be split into clear columns as a pre-requisite.
• TIP: Use the text-to-columns tool to easily separate this data. Select the relevant delimiter (whichever symbol separates the data) and click 'Finish'.
• Once the data is in separate columns, check the spelling. This ensures that mistakes or misunderstandings do not arise from any usage of your data. Run a spell check or have a thorough glance over the data if the dataset is small.
• Ensure that data is relevant. This can be done by checking the data across other websites. However, this can be difficult and time-consuming in large datasets, which is why we encourage data releasers to ensure that their data is kept up-to-date.

Sure. It is possible to create your own datasets from scratch. You can do this by searching for data of interest such as "Berlin's tourist attractions" or "Dentists in London" via Google. However, there are some legal issues to look out for when creating applications using non-government data. Make sure that you always consult a website's data usage policy before using its data to create a dataset. Some websites may prohibit any reuse of their data, whilst others prefer you to seek permission from them first. Some websites also wish to have their web address cited with the reuse of their data - the web address can be placed in the 'Source' box when you upload a dataset onto the Citadel website.

The minimum category requirements are ID, Title/Name, Category, Address and geographical coordinates (Latitude/Longitude). For example, for a dataset showing leisure facilities in Leeds, the data should look as follows:

Other columns with further useful information such as price, opening hours and accessibility are helpful to add too but an application can still be made without them.

• If addresses are provided, you can use www.doogal.co.uk/BatchGeocoding.php or http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/geocoder/ or http://www.findlatitudeandlongitude.com/batch-geocode/ to geocode these very quickly. These are particularly useful for large datasets, as geocoding them manually can be very time consuming. However, it is important to remember that these tools are not 100% perfect and may cause errors. Alternatively, you can geocode points of interests in your dataset using GoogleMaps. This is more time consuming but produces more accurate coordinates.
• If addresses are not provided, you will have to locate these using GoogleMaps. Right-Click on the location you are interested in and select 'What's here?' to get the full address, including latitude and longitude.

1. If your dataset is in CSV or XLS format, convert it into Citadel JSON format.
2. Test it to make sure the conversion has been done properly, although even if you get an error, you may still be able to create an app with the newly converted JSON file. Follow the next two steps to see whether you can actually see your data on the map.
3. Publish your converted dataset by uploading the JSON file and filling in all the mandatory information on the publication form.
4. Go to 'create an app' section on the Citadel website.

Search for datasets that are in CSV/XLS/Excel/JSON format. If you find a JSON dataset, you won't need to convert the dataset as long as it matches the required Citadel format (see following question if unsure about compatibility).

Use the 'Test My Data' tool on the Citadel website.

1. Import data through clicking on the "Data" tab.
2. Click "From Text" to bring up the Text Import Wizard which will allow you to import any saved files into Excel.
3. Make sure you select "Unicode (UTF-8)" in the "File origin" box in Step 1 of the Text Import Wizard. This will ensure that the language characters remain the same when the file is imported.

There can be problems when locating geo-coordinates in other countries, especially when addresses are in a language that relies on a different alphabet. For example, looking for addresses in Abu Dhabi can prove challenging as many addresses will be in Arabic and batch geocoding tools are often unable to pick these up. Additionally, addresses/points of interest in Arabic are sometimes translated into English in several ways, which can lead to confusion over whether the same point of interest/address is being used when collecting data from different websites. Some knowledge of the way that names/addresses are written in different contexts may thus be preferable to ensure that contextual specificities are being addressed properly in the creation and cleaning up of datasets.

Drag and drop 'Custem text' icon from the list on the right and enter the city's location there e.g. London, United Kingdom.

How large is your dataset? If it is very large (10,000+ data points) then you might want to consider breaking it down as the converter will find it difficult to process. Alternatively, the converter could be currently down owing to a slow internet connection/high traffic on the Citadel website, so try again later.

Once you have published your data, you can find it in your datasets section. Click Explore My Citadel > My apps and data > My datasets.

Search the data catalogue through selecting Open Data>Open Data Index on the Citadel toolbar.

To improve the quality of your data and make it more accessible to the public always consider the following 10 principles:

1. Completeness. Does your data fully reflect what is recorded about a particular subject? To the extent that personally identifiable information is not compromised, the detail and scope of available information should be as great as possible.
2. Primacy. Information held by the government should be primary source data, accompanied by annotations explaining how it was collected and recorded.
3. Timeliness. Whenever possible, collected data should be released as quickly as possible. It is worth noting that real-time updates have the greatest potential to maximize the utility that the public can obtain from having access to the available information.
4. Ease of physical and electronic access. Are there any barriers that may restrict access to data? We believe that government information should be widely accessible, and that access to it should not be hampered by either physical or electronic barriers. An example of a physical barrier can be the need to visit a particular location in person to obtain access to specific information, while online request forms and such browser-oriented technologies as Flash, Javascript or cookies are all examples of barriers that people can face when trying to access information online.
5. Machine readability. Certain information can only be stored in the portable data format (PDF), but where possible data should be published in formats that lend themselves to machine processing.
6. Non-discrimination. Anyone wishing to access government data should be able to do so without having to identify himself/herself, and without providing any justification for that matter.
7. Use of commonly owned standards. Although some formats like XLS or CSV can make Open Data easy to work with, it has to be borne in mind that they can also have a ristricting effect on access. Consider Excel. Although a widely used spreadsheet program that makes it easy to store and organise tabulated data, is not free, which makes access to information stored in Excel format contingent on one's ownership of the programme. Ideally, governments should publish their data in formats that do not require end users to own or have access to licensed software.
8. Licensing. Are there any restrictions on how the data can be used after the release? Imposing restrictions on dissemination is in itself a barrier to public use of data. Publishing your data under CC licence can ensure maximum openness, thus allowing it to have the greatest impact on the wider community.
9. Permanence. Government information that has been released online should remain in online archives in perpetuity. Permanence is an important feature of Open Data, and one which can be bolstered by the provision of appropriate version-tracking and archiving information on ad hoc basis.
10. Costs. It goes without saying that Open Data should be free at the point of access, not least because imposing user fees will ultimately reduce the pool of people able to access it.

Source: http://sunlightfoundation.com/policy/documents/ten-open-data-principles/ 

Once you have published your data, you can find it in your datasets section. Click Explore My Citadel > My apps and data > My apps.

Yes you can access and share any of your apps via the web browser of your smartphone by logging in to your Citadel account.

Zoom out of the city until you have a view of entire world. You may be able to see that your data has been plotted elsewhere. This may be because the geographical coordinates were entered incorrectly into the converter. Make sure that the 'Latitude' box is always placed before the 'Longitude' box when dragging categories to the data in the converter. This ensures that your data for Edinburgh (LAT= 55.9531, LONG= 3.1889), for example, does not end up mapped in the Indian Ocean (LAT= 3.1889, LONG= 55.9531). Alternatively, check that you haven't used a copy of the original file, as it can also lead to data being mapped incorrectly e.g. Leeds_communitycentres.json(2) is not a proper file name - the file should always end '.json'

Click on the 'Categories' button in the top left hand side of the map screen. A drop down menu with the different category types of the data should appear. Make sure that the category type that you would like to see on the map has a tick next to it and click apply. Also, to ensure that all data appears in the final application, make sure that during the conversion process, you are including all data within in the correct fields.

Try opening the link in a different browser. If this doesn't work, it may be due to your firewall settings. Check that pop ups are enabled.

Open your application. Share by clicking on the Facebook/Twitter icons in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

Go to the page where your applications are stored (Explore My Citadel>My Apps and Data). Click on 'Edit' in the bottom left hand corner of any of your applications. From here, you can edit the name/description of your app and replace the image. To change the data, you will need to reconvert the new dataset and make a new application.

Use location filter to find all apps for the city you are interested in. Please note that location filter may not work with Google Chrome. If you experience this problem, try using Mozilla or Internet Explorer.

All apps are published using an open license (CC BY), which means that anybody has the right to re-use them.