FluidDB is offering a new tool called “Flimp” (FLuiddb IMPorter) for importing JSON, YAML or CSV data sources into FluidDB. FluidDB is a new type of database, described as “a hosted database with the heart of a wiki.” We’ve covered the project here previously. As a test, FluidDB imported all the metadata from data.gov and data.gov.uk using Flimp and made it publicly available. The company has posted a Flimp tutorial using that government data.
Why would you want to do this? According to FluidDB:
- FluidDB’s consistent, simple and elegant RESTful API as a view into the data.
- The possibility of simple yet powerful queries across all the metadata.
- The opportunity to annotate, link and augment the existing data with contributions from other sources.
Interestingly, FluidDB combines several existing database methods. CEO Terry Jones says it uses a combination of PostGRES, Cassandra, and Amazon S3. He says you could consider them “a level above” the raw storage provided by other database types.
