Query the Data Delivery Network
Query the DDNThe easiest way to query any data on Splitgraph is via the "Data Delivery Network" (DDN). The DDN is a single endpoint that speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol. Any Splitgraph user can connect to it at data.splitgraph.com:5432 and query any version of over 40,000 datasets that are hosted or proxied by Splitgraph.
For example, you can query the permitted_septic_systems table in this repository, by referencing it like:
"delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latest"."permitted_septic_systems"or in a full query, like:
SELECT
":id", -- Socrata column ID
"pretreattype", -- Type of pretreatment used in system.
"abandoneddate", -- Date septic system abandoned.
"withdrawndate", -- Date permit application withdrawn.
"constructionreportreceiveddate", -- Date construction report received.
"appreceiveddate", -- Date septic system application received.
"minimumsize", -- Minimum size of the septic system, in square feet.
"propother", -- Additional information about the property for which the septic permit is issued.
"constructiontype", -- Type of system construction (new, repair, replacement, etc.).
"permitstatus", -- Status of the septic system permit.
"contractor", -- Name of the licensee who installed the septic system.
"designerlicensenumber", -- License number of the person who designed the septic system.
"designer", -- Name of the person who designed the septic system.
"ownername", -- Name of the owner of the property for which the septic system is permitted.
"x", -- Cartesian X coordinate of either the tax parcel or the septic system.
"longitude", -- Longitude of either the tax parcel or the septic system.
"latitude", -- Latitude of either the tax parcel or the septic system.
"permitnumber", -- Permit number of the septic system that is the subject of this record.
"contractorlicensenumber", -- License number of the licensee who installed the septic system.
"y", -- Cartesian Y coordinate of either the tax parcel or the septic system.
"proposedsize", -- Proposed size of the septic system, in square feet.
"flowrate", -- Approved system flow rate, in gallons per day.
"taxparcelnumbers", -- County tax parcel identification number for the property on which the septic system is located.
"approveddate", -- Date septic system permit approved.
"geocoded_location", -- Latitude and Longitude together for mapping purposes. This is the location of either the tax parcel or the septic system.
"perkrate", -- Groundwater percolation rate. In minutes per inch
"geocoded_location_address",
"geocoded_location_state",
"bedortrenchcode", -- Code denoting whether the system is a Bed (B) or Trench (T) system.
"geocoded_location_zip",
"geocoded_location_city",
"denieddate", -- Date septic system denied.
"expireddate", -- Date septic permit expired.
"septicsystemtype", -- Type of septic system permitted.
"septicsystemsubtype", -- Subtype of septic system permitted.
"url_for_permit_details", -- Web page link to see more details about the specific septic permit.
"technology", -- Type of septic system technology used.
"septicpropusecode", -- Use of property for which the septic permit is issued.
"county" -- County in which the septic system is located.
FROM
"delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latest"."permitted_septic_systems"
LIMIT 100;Connecting to the DDN is easy. All you need is an existing SQL client that can connect to Postgres. As long as you have a SQL client ready, you'll be able to query delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u with SQL in under 60 seconds.
Query Your Local Engine
bash -c "$(curl -sL https://github.com/splitgraph/splitgraph/releases/latest/download/install.sh)"Read the installation docs.
Splitgraph Cloud is built around Splitgraph Core (GitHub), which includes a local Splitgraph Engine packaged as a Docker image. Splitgraph Cloud is basically a scaled-up version of that local Engine. When you query the Data Delivery Network or the REST API, we mount the relevant datasets in an Engine on our servers and execute your query on it.
It's possible to run this engine locally. You'll need a Mac, Windows or Linux system to install sgr, and a Docker installation to run the engine. You don't need to know how to actually use Docker; sgrcan manage the image, container and volume for you.
There are a few ways to ingest data into the local engine.
For external repositories, the Splitgraph Engine can "mount" upstream data sources by using sgr mount. This feature is built around Postgres Foreign Data Wrappers (FDW). You can write custom "mount handlers" for any upstream data source. For an example, we blogged about making a custom mount handler for HackerNews stories.
For hosted datasets (like this repository), where the author has pushed Splitgraph Images to the repository, you can "clone" and/or "checkout" the data using sgr cloneand sgr checkout.
Cloning Data
Because delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latest is a Splitgraph Image, you can clone the data from Spltgraph Cloud to your local engine, where you can query it like any other Postgres database, using any of your existing tools.
First, install Splitgraph if you haven't already.
Clone the metadata with sgr clone
This will be quick, and does not download the actual data.
sgr clone delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3uCheckout the data
Once you've cloned the data, you need to "checkout" the tag that you want. For example, to checkout the latest tag:
sgr checkout delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latestThis will download all the objects for the latest tag of delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u and load them into the Splitgraph Engine. Depending on your connection speed and the size of the data, you will need to wait for the checkout to complete. Once it's complete, you will be able to query the data like you would any other Postgres database.
Alternatively, use "layered checkout" to avoid downloading all the data
The data in delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latest is 0 bytes. If this is too big to download all at once, or perhaps you only need to query a subset of it, you can use a layered checkout.:
sgr checkout --layered delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u:latestThis will not download all the data, but it will create a schema comprised of foreign tables, that you can query as you would any other data. Splitgraph will lazily download the required objects as you query the data. In some cases, this might be faster or more efficient than a regular checkout.
Read the layered querying documentation to learn about when and why you might want to use layered queries.
Query the data with your existing tools
Once you've loaded the data into your local Splitgraph Engine, you can query it with any of your existing tools. As far as they're concerned, delaware-gov/permitted-septic-systems-mv7j-tx3u is just another Postgres schema.