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UAE Open Data Sources for Hackathons

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Why Use Government Data?

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Competitive Edge

• Local relevance: Address real UAE market needs with actual data
• Rich context: Enhance financial insights with demographics, real estate, and economic indicators
• Innovation opportunities: Create mashups no one has built before
• Professional credibility: Show judges you understand the market

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Quick Integration

• Most datasets offer REST APIs with JSON responses
• No authentication required for public datasets
• CORS-friendly endpoints available through Dubai Pulse
• Sample data included for offline development

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🚀 Quick Start

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Featured Dataset Combinations

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Primary Data Sources

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🏛️ Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE)

• Banking indicators by bank type and emirate
• Financial stability indicators (FSIs)
• Money supply and credit statistics
• Quarterly economic reports
• Access CBUAE Open Data →

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🏙️ Dubai Pulse (Digital Dubai)

• 3,000+ datasets across all domains
• REST APIs with JSON responses
• Real-time data updates
• CORS-enabled for frontend access
• Browse Dubai Pulse →

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🇦🇪 Bayanat (UAE Federal Portal)

• National statistics and indicators
• Cross-emirate data harmonization
• Historical time series
• Bilingual datasets (English/Arabic)
• Explore Bayanat →

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🏢 Dubai DED Business Data

• Business license master list
• Company registrations by sector
• SME statistics and trends
• API access for bulk queries
• Access via Dubai Pulse API →

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🏠 Dubai Land Department

• Real estate transactions
• Property prices and trends
• Rental market data
• Project registrations
• DLD Open Data →

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Data Categories

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Implementation Tips

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API Best Practices

// Cache API responses to avoid rate limits
const cache = new Map();
const CACHE_DURATION = 5 * 60 * 1000; // 5 minutes

async function fetchWithCache(url) {
  const cached = cache.get(url);
  if (cached && Date.now() - cached.timestamp < CACHE_DURATION) {
    return cached.data;
  }

  const response = await fetch(url);
  const data = await response.json();

  cache.set(url, { data, timestamp: Date.now() });
  return data;
}

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CORS Handling

// For APIs without CORS headers, use a proxy
const PROXY_URL = 'https://api.allorigins.win/get?url=';

async function fetchWithProxy(url) {
  const response = await fetch(PROXY_URL + encodeURIComponent(url));
  const data = await response.json();
  return JSON.parse(data.contents);
}

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Data Filtering

// Filter large datasets client-side for better UX
function filterByEmirate(data, emirate) {
  return data.filter(item =>
    item.emirate?.toLowerCase() === emirate.toLowerCase()
  );
}

// Paginate results for performance
function paginate(data, page = 1, pageSize = 20) {
  const start = (page - 1) * pageSize;
  return data.slice(start, start + pageSize);
}

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Licensing & Attribution

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Open Data Policy

• All listed datasets follow UAE’s Open Data policy
• Free for commercial use in hackathon projects
• No API keys required for public datasets
• Attribution appreciated but not always mandatory

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Best Practices

1. Cite sources in your README and presentation
2. Check individual dataset licenses for specific requirements
3. Use official endpoints rather than scraping
4. Respect rate limits to ensure fair access

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Example Attribution

## Data Sources
- Banking statistics: Central Bank of the UAE Open Data
- Property prices: Dubai Land Department via Dubai Pulse
- Business licenses: Dubai DED Open Data Portal

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Performance Optimization

// Use localStorage for persistent caching
class DataCache {
  constructor(prefix = 'uae_data_') {
    this.prefix = prefix;
  }

  set(key, data, ttl = 3600000) { // 1 hour default
    const item = {
      data,
      expiry: Date.now() + ttl
    };
    localStorage.setItem(this.prefix + key, JSON.stringify(item));
  }

  get(key) {
    const item = localStorage.getItem(this.prefix + key);
    if (!item) return null;

    const { data, expiry } = JSON.parse(item);
    if (Date.now() > expiry) {
      localStorage.removeItem(this.prefix + key);
      return null;
    }

    return data;
  }
}

// Node.js with Redis caching
const redis = require('redis');
const client = redis.createClient();

async function getDataWithCache(dataSource, params) {
  const cacheKey = `${dataSource}:${JSON.stringify(params)}`;

  // Check cache first
  const cached = await client.get(cacheKey);
  if (cached) {
    return JSON.parse(cached);
  }

  // Fetch from API
  const data = await fetchFromAPI(dataSource, params);

  // Store in cache with TTL
  await client.setex(cacheKey, 300, JSON.stringify(data)); // 5 min TTL

  return data;
}

# Python with pandas for large datasets
import pandas as pd
import requests
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor

def fetch_batch_data(endpoints):
    """Fetch multiple datasets in parallel"""
    with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=5) as executor:
        responses = executor.map(requests.get, endpoints)
        return [r.json() for r in responses if r.status_code == 200]

# Process large datasets efficiently
def process_transactions(df):
    return df.groupby(['category', 'emirate']).agg({
        'amount': ['sum', 'mean', 'count'],
        'date': ['min', 'max']
    }).reset_index()

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Hackathon Quick Wins

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🏆 Judge-Impressing Features

1. Heat maps using geographic data from Dubai Pulse
2. Trend predictions using historical CBUAE statistics
3. Affordability scores combining income and DLD property data
4. Risk assessments using traffic and weather correlations
5. Sustainability metrics from DEWA and EAD data

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⚡ Time-Saving Shortcuts

• Start with Dubai Pulse - most comprehensive and API-ready
• Use sample datasets for initial development
• Implement graceful fallbacks when APIs are slow
• Cache aggressively during development
• Keep backup data files for demo reliability

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Next Steps

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Support & Resources