The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has developed a Web service or API, based on the Representational State Transfer (REST) architectural principle, that allows users to create their own population clock.
The Population Clock pulls together data on the latest Estimated Resident Population (ERP) from the ABS Australian Demographic Statistics and ABS.Stat Beta.
Users can add their own clocks to their own websites or applications, and will be displayed in a similar fashion to the population clock already on the ABS website. This is an improvement to people having to search the website and download population figures for analysis.
“When the estimated Australian population clicked over to 23 million last year, there were thousands of people watching it. The Web service will allow others to re-create the ABS pop clock on their website or application,” ABS director of customer insights & strategies, Richard Burgess, said in a statement.
The ABS is encouraging user feedback, which can be submitted through the ABS BetaWorks blog.