Government · head-to-head
City, Nantes Open Data vs EPA
Nantes Métropole's open-data portal runs OpenDataSoft; the stored record's `API Key` requirement is stale — a live keyless GET against the v2.1 Explore API (`data.nantesmetropole.fr/api/explore/v2.1/catalog/datasets`) returned full JSON catalogue metadata with a wildcard `Access-Control-Allow-Origin` header, and dataset exports in GeoJSON and CSV worked the same way with no key. An API key is only required for OpenDataSoft's write/administration endpoints, not for reading the catalogue's 590+ datasets.
EPA's Envirofacts platform exposes the agency's environmental compliance and monitoring databases — air quality, drinking water systems, the Toxics Release Inventory, hazardous waste, and Superfund sites — through a keyless REST API at `data.epa.gov/efservice`. Any of the underlying tables can be queried by building a URL from the table name, filter columns, and an output format, with results returned as JSON, XML, CSV, or Excel. EPA's Developer Central site separately documents smaller topic widgets built on the same data.
| City, Nantes Open Data | EPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Authentication | None | None |
| Pricing | free | free |
| Formats | JSON, CSV, GeoJSON | JSON, XML, CSV, Excel |
| CORS | yes | yes |
| HTTPS | Yes | Yes |
EPA supports 4 response formats, while City, Nantes Open Data offers fewer — pick EPA for more integration flexibility.