atlas - the global video and audio index

Overview

Atlas ingests data from 15+ sources, indexes them, matches equivalent items, then provides simple RESTful APIs for Search, Content descriptions and channel Schedules. Data can also be provided in a range of common feed formats.

Data Model

The Atlas API model has two key concepts: Containers and Items.

Containers

Videos are often part of a set, for example "all episodes of Eastenders". Containers represent a collection of items within the Atlas data model.
Where possible we return matching Items within their containers. Some items do not have containers such as films, specials and user generated clips.

Below is an example of a container, in this case Merlin (a popular BBC 1 programme):

content: [
    { episode 1 json },
    { episode 2 json }
],
title: "Merlin",
description: "Fantasy drama based...",
same_as: [
    "http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVShow?id=323369381&uo=4",
    "http://www.hulu.com/merlin",
],
media_type: "video",
aliases: [
    "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(BBC)",
],
uri: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mjlxv",
curie: "bbc:b00mjlxv"
                    

Items

Items represent individual pieces of content, including all the standard pieces of metadata that you’d expect. Here’s an annotated overview of the JSON returned by a request for an episode of Merlin:

Identifiers

Use these attributes to identify the content, the URI is our best guess at the canonical identifier of the content, this is the only value that should be persisted as all others are liable to change.

                        
uri: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wlncb",
aliases: [
    "http://bbc.co.uk/i/wlncb/"
    "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wlncb"
],
curie: "bbc:b00wlncb"
                    

Description

These attributes describe the item.

                        
description: "Queen Morgana begins a reign of terrible evil over the innocent...",
title: "The Coming of Arthur - Part 2",
publisher: {
    key: "bbc.co.uk",
    name: "BBC",
    country: "GB"
},
image: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/images/episode/b00wlncb_640_360.jpg",
thumbnail: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/images/episode/b00wlncb_150_84.jpg",
genres:[
    "http://ref.atlas.metabroadcast.com/genres/atlas/drama",
    "http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/genres/drama/scifiandfantasy"
]
                    

Episode attributes

This Item is also an Episode, which means it is part of a Brand. These attributes outlines this Episode’s position within its Brand. If the Item is not an Episode these attributes will not be present.

                        
episode_number: 13,
series_number: 3,
brand_summary: {
    title: "Merlin"
    description: "Fantasy drama based on the legend of King Arthur and Merlin"
    uri: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mjlxv"
    curie: "bbc:b00mjlxv"
}
                    

Locations

Each Item contains the various different ways you can get your metaphorical hands on the media. These are called Locations and provide all the information about how to access the content, who can access it, where it is, and so on. This is an example Location (the full schema is quite large, but you get the idea):

                    
    { 
        data_container_format: "application/x-shockwave-flash",
        video_coding: "video/H264",
        availability_start: "05-Dec-2010 02:39:02",
        availability_end: "11-Dec-2010 20:24:00",
        available_countries: [
            "GB"
        ],
        revenue_contract: "free_to_view",
        transport_type: "link",
        uri: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wlncb",
        available: false,
        duration: 2700,
      }
                    

Query Parameters

This is an attempt to fully document all the functions, objects and attributes of the Atlas API.

Search

Schedule

Content

Sources

Atlas works with data from the following sources:

International Long-form

Source	Access	Status	Type
Hulu	Public		Free on-demand shows
iTunes	Public		Pay on-demand shows
TV Blob	Public		EPG

UK Long-form

Source	Access	Status	Type
BBC	Public		Free on-demand shows, EPG, Clips
Channel 4	Restricted		Free on-demand shows, EPG, Clips
Five	Restricted		Free on-demand shows
ITV	Public		Free on-demand shows
MSN Video	Public		free on-demand shows
Press Association	Restricted		EPG

International Short-form

Source	Access	Status	Type
archive.org	Public		Clips
blip.tv	Public		Clips
Daily Motion	Public		Clips
Podcasts	Public		Clips
TED.com	Public		Clips
Vimeo	Public		Clips
YouTube	Public		Clips

Please contact MetaBroadcast if you are interested in using restricted sources.

Feeds

In addition to the RESTful API, Atlas also provides data in a variety of feed formats

Format	Base Type	Status	Description
BBC Interlinking	MRSS		Data to feed broadcast data into BBC iPlayer
Google Video Sitemaps	MRSS		Data to feed Google Video Search
UK Radioplayer	DAB-EPG		Data to feed UK Radio Player Search
Xbox LIVE	Lakeview		Data to feed Xbox LIVE TV Search

Contact MetaBroadcast for help producing data in these formats