Developers

mezz provides a number of tools for developers to incorporate what's happening nearby in your mobile application or on your website.

Websites

mezz provides an easy way to get a feed of the latest or popular feeds based on the latitude/longitude of your location. There are two versions of the API available. An IFRAME version helps you incorporate the feed with just one line of HTML code. Or you can use a jQuery implementation to customize the look and fee.

Example: See the live feeds on the San Jose State University Spartan Daily and the University of California Irvine New University websites.

IFRAME Version

You can add the mezz widget on any webpage of your website by simply including an IFRAME. The mezz widget displays the latest things happening nearby based on a latitude/longitude provided.

In the <BODY> section of your webpage, add the following IFRAME line:

The source of the IFRAME should be http://www.mezz.com/feediframe followed by some URL parameters. No data is displayed if the required parameters are not specified or an incorrect API key is provided.

The following three parameters are required:

apikey: Use the API Key provided by mezz. Email mezz to get an API key. Please include the URL of the website and a brief description of your interest.
latitude: Specify a latitude for the location.
longitude: Specify a longitude for the location. Please note that locations in North America have a longitude value that is negative such as -121.02345

The following parameters are optional and can be provided if desired:

radius: This specifies the radius in miles. If there is no data within this radius, the radius is expanded globally. Defaults to 4 miles if not specified.
quantity: The number of items to display in a feed. Defaults to 20 items.
delay: This delay is the number of minutes to delay before displaying any new content. This is typically called “broadcast delay” and is designed to eliminate inappropriate content. The default is 10 minutes.
interval: The number of seconds between each display. Defaults to 4 seconds.

In addition to the src of the IFRAME, you should specify the width and height that must be taken by the widget. If you are using responsive CSS, you must specify a CSS class for the IFRAME and specify the width and height in the .css class.

You can also specify the seamless and frameborder=0 parameters if desired. Please note that frameboder is obsolete as of HTML 5, but many browsers still support it instead of seamless, so it is best to provide both.

Asynchronous: The loading of the data from the server is performed asynchronously so as not to block any UI or cause any lockup. If there is no data, if the server is down, or if there is no Internet connection, the frame will be empty.

Responsive CSS: The iframe is displayed using Responsive CSS. The size of the display is automatically resized based on the width of the frame specified in the style attribute. The frame should be at least 230px wide at a minimum and 500px at the maximum.

Address to Latitude/Longitude To determine the Latitude/Longitude of an address, visit http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html.

REST API

The REST API also provides a way to display what you have posted, as well as those you are following.

A more advanced version of the REST API is available for those that would like to post in addition to viewing the content.

The REST API returns all data using industry standard JSON objects. The JSON objects contain information about each posting, URLs to the pictures of different sizes, text description, location information, time posted, distance calculation, username of the poster, and other useful information.

Mobile Applications

The REST API can also be used to develop mobile applications and incorporate the feed into either an existing or a new application. In addition to the REST API, mezz provides a library and sample code in Objective-C for the iOS platform, and in Java for the Android platform including parsing and user interface code for use in your application.

Web tools for Businesses

mezz is also beta testing tools for businesses to post from the web. The posting from the web allows businesses to use the web to schedule posts in advance, as well as provide additional information such as URL's, phone numbers, email addresses, and text message contact information for each posting. Users can click the More button on the Detail view to access this additional information. This enables businesses to easily provide a call to action to purchase, sign up, or provide additional information about an offer.

Using the API

At this time, the REST API is in beta mode and access is being provided to our key partners. Please contact us at info at mezz dot com for additional information and to receive an API Key as well as sample code to incorporate the REST API into your website or mobile applications.