An Introduction to Google App Engine and Big Data Applications

Target Audience: Year 9-10 Students
Resource Type: Step-by-step activity and supporting materials for developing a simple web application on Google App Engine
Curriculum Areas Addressed: Digital Technologies
General Capabilities: ICT, Critical and Creative Thinking
Project Delivery Timeframe: 1 – 2 weeks
Developer(s): Sam Thorogood (for CS4HS 2013)

Project Description:
This activity walks the user through using Google App Engine (GAE) to host a very simple web application designed to access large data sets quickly and effectively. The PDF provided gives an overview of why big data is so important and how GAE allows developers to quickly and efficiently manipulate data sets. It uses a data set from the Australian Government as its example, and can be adapted to use other open data sets.

App Engine Slides and Code. The walkthrough for building the application itself can be found on Sam’s website, at http://whistlr.info/static/stuff/bigdata/index.htmlNote that you will need to install Google App Engine on the computer you are using to complete the activity.