Data

All the metadata in this Data Lifeboat is stored in a machine-readable JSON format.

This page describes how this data is stored, so you can build your own tools and toys to work with this data.

• Where is the data?
• How is the data stored?
• What are the files?
  • metadata/photoIndex.js
  • metadata/photos/[photoId].js
  • metadata/contributorIndex.js
  • metadata/licenseIndex.js
  • metadata/albumIndex.js
  • metadata/galleryIndex.js
  • metadata/groupIndex.js
  • metadata/tagIndex.js

Where is the data?

The data is in the metadata folder in the root of the Data Lifeboat package.

How is the data stored?

The data is stored in JavaScript files. Each file contains a JSON object which is assigned to a variable, for example:

const photo = {"id": "123456789"};

If you remove the variable name and trailing semicolon, you get a JSON object. These variable names always match the regex [a-zA-Z]+.

(We use JavaScript rather than JSON so we can load the metadata in the web viewer.)

What are the files?

metadata/photoIndex.js

This is a list of every photo in the Data Lifeboat.

It gives you some key information that you can use to browse the list, and work out which photos you want to look at in more detail. We use it to provide the list of photos in this viewer.

Here’s what this file looks like:

const photoIndex = {
    "123456789": {… index entry …},
    "987654321": {… index entry …},
    …
  }

It contains a JSON object. The key is the Flickr photo ID, and the value is a photo index entry. Each index entry contains the following fields:

metadata/photos/[photoId].js

There is one of these files for each photo in the Data Lifeboat, and each file contains all the information that was saved about this photo.

Here’s what this file looks like:

const photoIndex = {
    "id": "123456789"
    …
  }

It contains a JSON object with the following fields:

metadata/contributorIndex.js

This is a list of every Flickr member who’s made a contribution to this Data Lifeboat. This could be uploading a photo, leaving a comment, or creating a gallery.

Here’s what the file looks like:

const contributorIndex = {
    "12345678@N00": {… index entry …},
    "87654321@N00": {… index entry …},
    …
  }

metadata/licenseIndex.js

This is an index of every license available on Flickr at the time the Data Lifeboat was created. The variable name is licenseIndex , and the entries are keyed by license ID:

const licenseIndex = {
    "cc-by-2.0": {
      "name": "CC BY 2.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/"
    },
    …
  }

Each entry in the index has two fields:

• label: string – the human-readable name of the license
• url: string | null – the URL to the license text, if applicable. Not all license types have an associated URL.

Whenever you find a licenseId field on a photo, you can look up the license in this index.

metadata/albumIndex.js

This is a list of all the albums that contain photos from this Data Lifeboat. An album is a collection somebody made of their own photos – an album can only contain photos that you uploaded, and not anybody else’s.

Here’s what this file looks like:

const albumIndex = {
    "123456789": {… album index entry …},
    "987654321": {… album index entry …},
    …
  }

It contains a JSON object. The key is the Flickr album ID, and the value is an album index entry. Each index entry contains the following fields:

metadata/galleryIndex.js

This is a list of all the galleries that contain photos from this Data Lifeboat. An gallery is a collection somebody made of other people’s photos – an album can only contain photos that you didn’t upload, and not your own.

Here’s what this file looks like:

const galleryIndex = {
    "123456789": {… gallery index entry …},
    "987654321": {… gallery index entry …},
    …
  }

It contains a JSON object. The key is the Flickr gallery ID, and the value is an gallery index entry. Each index entry contains the following fields:

metadata/groupIndex.js

This is a list of every group mentioned in the Data Lifeboat. A group is a place where Flickr members members can share and discuss images around a common theme, interest, or topic. Think of it like a photo album that multiple people can contribute to and discuss.

metadata/tagIndex.js

This is a list of every tag used in the Data Lifeboat.

It’s stored as a JSON object where the keys are the (normalized) tag names, and the values are the number of photos with that tag. For example:

const tagIndex = {
  "sunsets": 5,
  "flowers": 3,
  "outdoors": 2
}