I saw a blog post come across my feeds from the analysis and visualizaiton API provider Qlik, about their Qlik Sense API Insights. It is a pretty interesting approach to trying visualize the change log and road map for an API. I like it because it is an analysis and visualization API provider who has used their own platform to help visualize the evolution of their API.
I find the visualization for Qlik Sense API Insights to be a little busy, and not as interactive as I’d like to see it be, but I like where they are headed. It tries to capture a ton of data, showing the road map and changes across multiple versions of sixteen APIs, something that can’t be easy to wrap your head around, let alone capture in a single visualization. I really like the direction they are going with this, even though it doesn’t fully bring it home for me.
Qlik Sense API Insights is the first approach I’ve seen like this to attempt to try and quantify the API road map and change log–it makes sense that it is something being done by a visualization platform provider. With a little usage and user experience (UX) love I think the concept of analysis, visualizaitons, and hopefully insights around the road map, change log, and even open issues and status could be significantly improved upon. I could see something like this expand and begin to provide an interesting view into the forever changing world of APIs, and keep consumers better informed, and in sync with what is going on.
In a world where many API providers still do not even share a road map or change log I’m always looking for examples of providers going the extra mile to provide more details, especially if they are innovating thike Qlik is with visualizations. I see a lot of conversations about how to version an API, but very few conversations about how to communicate each version of your API. It is something I’d like to keep evangelizing, helping API providers understand they should at least be offering the essentials like a roadmap, issues, change log, and status page, but the possibility for innovation and pushing the conversation forward is within reach too!
