--- title: The Open Knowledge Data Packager subtitle: An open source web app for creating and publishing tabular data packages. tags: CKAN redirect_from: - /post/datapackager/ ---
The Data Packager is a fun little project that Joe Tsoi, Nick Stenning, and I worked on for a couple of months, with some extra design input from Sam Smith. This is a re-post of the original release announcement on the CKAN blog.
[Data Packager](http://ckan.org/2014/06/09/the-open-knowledge-data-packager/) is a web app for quickly creating and publishing [Tabular Data Packages](http://dataprotocols.org/tabular-data-package/) from collections of CSV files on your computer. You can [register for a free user account](http://datapackager.okfn.org/user/register) and start creating data packages now, or take a look at a [sample data package](http://datapackager.okfn.org/package/my-first-tabular-data-package). With Data Packager's simple interface you can create a data package, upload CSV files to it, enter some metadata, and get a web page where users can explore and download your data package. When you login, you'll be taken to your dashboard, where you'll see a list of any packages you've created so far and an _Add package_ button: {% include wideimg.html src="/assets/images/datapackager-dashboard.png" alt="Screenshot of my Data Packager dashboard" title="Screenshot of my Data Packager dashboard" figcaption="My Data Packager dashboard" %} Click the _Add package_ button to create a new data package and you'll be taken to a form where you can enter the title and other metadata for your package: {% include wideimg.html src="/assets/images/datapackager-create-package.png" alt="Screenshot of creating a data package" title="Screenshot of creating a data package" figcaption="Creating a new data package" %} Click on _Next: Add CSV files_ and you'll be taken to a form where you can upload one or more CSV files to your data package: {% include wideimg.html src="/assets/images/datapackager-upload-csv.png" alt="Screenshot of uploading CSV files" title="Screenshot of uploading CSV files" figcaption="Uploading CSV files to a new data package" %} Finally, click on _Finish_ to create your data package. You'll be taken to your data package's page: {% include wideimg.html src="/assets/images/datapackager-browse-package.png" alt="Screenshot of browsing a data package" title="Screenshot of browsing a data package" figcaption="Browsing your newly created data package" %} You can publish the URL of this page, or share it with anyone who you want to share your data package with. ## Why Tabular Data Packages? Tabular Data Packages (defined by the [DataProtocols.org Tabular Data Package spec](http://dataprotocols.org/tabular-data-package/)) are a simple and easy-to-use data publishing and sharing format for the web. A Tabular Data Package is a collection of CSV files with a `datapackage.json` file. The `datapackage.json` file contains metadata about the package (title of the package, description, keywords, license, etc.) and schemas for each of the package's CSV files. The format is a good compromise between CSV and Excel, providing the simplicity and ease-of-use of CSV with some of the expressivity of full-blown spreadsheets. The schemas for the CSV files use the [JSON Table Schema](http://dataprotocols.org/json-table-schema/) format, a simple format for tabular data schemas. It includes metadata for each of the CSV file's columns (column name, type, description, etc.) and optional primary and foreign keys for the file. After you've created your data package and uploaded some CSV files to it, Data Packager has a few nice features for you... ## Download Data Packages The *Download Data Package* button on your data package's page will download a ZIP file including all of your package's CSV files and the `datapackage.json` file containing the metadata you entered for your package and files, plus schemas for each of your files: {::nomarkdown}