Audit an API Field's Completeness Before You Build a Feature on It

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An API’s documentation lists the fields a record can have. It rarely tells you how many records actually have them. Those are different numbers, and on open data APIs the gap is often enormous.

The failure looks like this. You read the schema, spot a field that would make a great feature, build the feature, and then discover the field is populated on four percent of the data. By then the feature is written and the pitch has been made.

GBIF's API Returns CC BY-NC Images by Default, Which Breaks Commercial Use

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

GBIF is one of the better open data APIs. No key, no registration, generous limits, and well over a billion species occurrence records, a large share of them carrying photographs. It is an obvious source if you need images of living things and you do not want to pay a stock library.

There is a trap in the default response, and it is the kind that does not surface until someone sends you a letter.

Gbif on API Coding

Audit an API Field's Completeness Before You Build a Feature on It

GBIF's API Returns CC BY-NC Images by Default, Which Breaks Commercial Use