The steps listed by import.io on its “How it works” page:
Find: Find an online source for your data, whether it’s a single web page or a search engine within a site. Import•io doesn’t discriminate; it works with any web source.
Extract: When you have identified the data you want, you can begin to extract it. The first stage is to highlight the data that you want. You can do this by giving us a few examples and our algorithms will identify the rest. The next stage is to organise your data. This is as simple as creating columns to sort parts of the data into, much like you would do in a spreadsheet. Once you have done that we will extract the data into rows and columns.
If you want to use the data once, or infrequently, you can stop here. However, if you would like a live connection to the data or want to be able to access it programatically, the next step will create a real-time connection to the data.
Connect: This stage will allow you to create a real-time connection to the data. First you have to record how you obtained the data you extracted. Second, give us a couple of test cases so we can ensure that, if the website changes, your connection to the data will remain live.
Mix: One of the most powerful features of the platform is the ability to mix data from many sources to form a single data set. This allows you to create incredibly rich data sets by combing hundred of underlying data points from many different websites and access them via the application or API as a single source. Mixing is as easy a clicking the sources you want to mix together and saving that mix as a new real-time data set.
Use: Simply copy your data into your favourite spreadsheet software or use our APIs to access it in an application.
Developer preview but interesting for a couple of reasons.
First simply as an import service. I haven’t tried it (yet) so your mileage may vary. Reports welcome.
Second, I like the (presented) ease of use approach.
Imagine a topic map application for some specific domain that was as matter-of-fact as what I quote above.
Something to think about.