We are excited to announce that the FIWARE Orion data source is now available on Freeboard!

In a nutshell, Freeboard allows FIWARE developers to build real-time, interactive dashboards and visualizations in a matter of minutes using the intuitive drag & drop interface for data at Orion FIWARE. According to its own webpage, the advantages of using Freeboard include its simplicity (intuitive interface), its cost (you can get started for free), its production readiness and its open-source nature.

Among other functionalities, it offers the following features:

• Flexible Data Sources
• Development with Widgets (you can select from a list and add your own)
• Drag & Drop Simplicity (you can change layouts easily)
• Public or Private access
• Freeboard duplication (duplicate any Freeboard and use it as a starting point for a new one –permission required)
• You can share it instantly (every Freeboard has a unique URL that you can share via email, SMS and social networks)

On the other hand, Orion is one of the main enablers developed by FIWARE. It maintains and delivers context information (like sensor data collected by an Arduino, weather information gathered from a station, and so on), supporting standard OMA NGSI Publish-Subscribe APIs.

FIWARE always tries to help developers, service providers, enterprises and startups to develop products that satisfy their needs while still being open and innovative. This is why we were inspired to create an open source plugin for Bug Labs’ visual dashboard, Freeboard.  Making the plugin was fast and easy thanks to the documentation and help provided by the Bug Labs folks. In just a few days, the plugin was up and running!

Freeboard showing sensor data from Thinking Things connected to FIWARE Orion

Using this new Orion FIWARE datasource, anyone can create an incredible dashboard in a couple of minutes without writing a single line of code. The plugin has been really well received at FIWARE IoT hackathons.

We hope you try the new Orion FIWARE data source on Freeboard.