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How to improve your efficiency getting your products from the Software & Data Marketplace

  • 1.  How to improve your efficiency getting your products from the Software & Data Marketplace

    Posted 10-29-2019 09:52

    Want to improve your efficiency getting your products from the Pitney Bowes Software & Data Marketplace?   If so, read on…

    As a refresher, the Software & Data Marketplace is your single source for all the Pitney Bowes data products. The Software and Data Marketplace -  My Products tab - lets you download your product files manually. If products are available in multiple formats, you can choose the format you want before downloading. You can also access either the Current Version or Past Versions of your products.  Using the My Products web page is a good way to access your products, and the only way to access Past Versions of your products - but the downside is that it can be time consuming if you have a lot of products to download.    Another downside is that it depends on you to do the downloading – and if you are busy you might forget and fail to get your updated product.

    Screenshot of Downloading Directly from the Software and Data Marketplace
    Screenshot of MyProducts tab in SDM



    A better option to get your products efficiently is the SDM Auto Download Tool.  The SDM Auto Download Tool gives you a user interface to schedule automatic downloads that provides a turn-key solution for you to have your updates delivered automatically. Instead of having to sign in to the Software and Data Marketplace every time a product update is available, you can schedule the SDM Auto Download to check for updates periodically and download them at a specific time. You can also schedule the SDM Auto Download to do this at specified times using Microsoft Windows® Task Scheduler.  To install the SDM Auto Download Tool, download its installer – but it only runs on Windows operating systems only – which is a downside.   The SDM Auto Download gives you the benefits of automation without having to write scripts yourself.

    Screenshot of SDM Auto Download Tool

    Screenshot of SDM Auto Download Tool



     

    Perhaps the best option to efficiently get your products – if you (or your engineer) can write Python or JavaScript – is to write a download script using the Pitney Bowes Software & Data Marketplace Python® SDK or the Java™ SDK.  You can automate your downloads using these SDKs specifically created for this purpose. The Pitney Bowes Software and Data Marketplace Java™ SDK allows you to access your Pitney Bowes data products via a simple-to-use Java client that can be included in any JRE application. The SDK is a wrapper for the web-based Data Delivery API.  Similarly, the Python® SDK allows you to access your Pitney Bowes data products via a simple to-use Python client that can be included in any Python application.  Each language offers the same capabilities and documentation.  Using either SDK, you can list the data products that are available to you, get their delivery information, and download them – all in a fully automated way direct to your data processing systems - without any need for any user interfaces.  One downside of the SDK option is that you need the technical skill to write the scripts.  Another downside of the SDK option (and also the SDM Auto Download tool) is that you cannot access many of the other features of the Software & Data Marketplace including Sample Datasets, Use Case Demos or the Data Guide.

    Consider your use case and choose the option that fits you best!



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    Tom Gilligan
    Pitney Bowes Software, Inc.
    White River Junction, VT, USA
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  • 2.  RE: How to improve your efficiency getting your products from the Software & Data Marketplace

    Posted 10-30-2019 09:37
    Tom, this is a great summary of the PB Software and Data Marketplace's data delivery capabilities and flexibility! To tag on to your last comment around the downside of using the auto download tools and NOT going into the marketplace to get your download updates (one at a time) users will also not be able to see and leverage the Map Explorer data visualization tool which allows users to view many (and multiple data  sets in one view) data layers on a map virtually anywhere in the world where we have PB data set coverage!

    Thanks Tom!

    Steve Barnes
    Product Manager
    Software and Data Marketplace 
    Pitney Bowes
    Shelton CT USA

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    Stephen Barnes
    PITNEY BOWES SOFTWARE, INC
    Troy NY
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