Just checked the tabular data format as I want to use it for JSON-stat [2]. Unfortunately I find that JSON tabular data is defined such that I can't use it for JSON-stat. Why these limits? I wonder, has those coding this solution investigated how JSON is used for statistics at all? The way it is now I can't even remap some (a lot) of the available datasets as they are multidimensional, and tabular data is two-dimensional in its nature.
My guess is that tabular data is an attempt to force something into a two-dimensional presentation even if it does not fit the problem. Can anyone explain or clarify?
Before anyone start to argue about use of JSON-stat, I will point out that this is in use by several statistical bureaus. The list includes Statistics Norway, UK’s Office for National Statistics, Statistics Sweden, Statistics Denmark, Instituto Galego de Estatística, the Central Statistics Office of Ireland, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and Eurostat. In particular Statistics Norway provide an API console where statistics can be extracted, composed, and exported as JSON-stat.[1]
John Erling Blad
/jeblad