API had the opportunity to attend the conclusion of New York City’s Open Data Week this year. This event was organized by the City of New York’s Office of Technology and Innovation as well as BetaNYC, which is a community group that helps to educate and organize community events community members on New York City’s open data.
The event was held at CUNY Law School in Queens, NY, which was a full-day event hosted by the school. Here, hundreds of community members who are passionate about open data gathered to learn about information on the NYC Open Data portal, hear about the interplay between its open data program and the NYC government and see some innovative projects that were built on this foundation.
The event kicked off with City Councilors, NYC Staff, and a NY State Senator talking about how they use open data as a tool to gather insight into the issues facing their constituents. Hon. Jennifer Gutierrez, NYC Council Member and Chair of the Technology Committee shared that open data helps her learn where the specific issues in her district are. She stated that without this data, she is limited to what constituents report to her office. She stated that open data allows her to have greater visibility into where government needs to provide better services.
Hon. Julie Won, NYC Council Member and Chair of the Committee on Contracts discussed the importance of increasing residents' access to affordable Wi-Fi. Stating that without access to Wi-Fi, students were not able to effectively engage with remote learning.
This is also a theme that Hon. Kristen Gonzalez, State Senator and Chair of the Internet and Technology Committee noted, stating that she has helped launch an Internet for All initiative and is working for this to be a public utility, like electricity.
The NYC Office of Data & Analytics spoke about NYC’s Open Data Ambassador program. This is a collaborative program between BETANYC and NYC Open Data, where community members are trained on how to access data from the NYC open data portal. The program also looks to train ambassadors on how to present to other community members and works to empower them to present to at least three community groups a year about open data.
Another presentation by an NYC Startup highlighted work that is using data provided by companies building new commercial buildings in NYC and other cities. They are taking 3D models provided by architecture companies and modifying them for a mobile phone augmented reality application. This allows community members to see the building superimposed where it is going to be built. This tool enables more public input, awareness, and engagement for potential builds.
This technology is used by placing signs with QR codes on them that provide Geo Anchors and allow the Incitu team to place the building where it will be in space. Their staff shared that they hope to be able to map proposed properties while they are still in Zoning review, to bring more value and information to that process.
They also discussed the importance of having shared data standards, mentioning how when Google began to display transit data on its maps, it told transportation providers that they created the General Transit Feed Specifications (GTFS), which had different transit providers publish their transit data in the same unified format so that Google and other developers could use this information in applications.
*Images courtesy of Incitu’s LinkedIn page.
Takeaways
Attending the sessions and talking with the passionate members of the NYC open data community left us with a few important lessons:
Open data can be a useful tool for government officials to get a better feel for the issues affecting their communities.
Conferences focused on open data can draw a very diverse crowd made up of students, educators, local government employees, and community organizers.
Both NYC and Syracuse have a big focus on community projects made with open data (see: https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/projects and https://data.syr.gov/pages/projects).
Data can only be open if community members know about it and know how to access it.
Investing in affordable internet access is an important government investment in modern infrastructure, as important as roads and bridges (As the City of Syracuse recently was approved funds to do through the ARPA program).
We are excited to build on our Syracuse open data portal. If you are interested in bringing one of our open data team to a community meeting or if you are interested in additional training in accessing Syracuse’s open data, please reach out to us at opendata@syrgov.net and send us your ideas and information.