City Guidelines

Data Set Selection

Agencies should use the following guidelines to select and prioritize their data sets for publication.

Prioritization Criteria

For purposes of prioritizing public data sets, Agencies should consider whether information embodied in the public data set:

• Increases Agency accountability and responsiveness;
• Improves public knowledge of the Agency and its operations;
• Responds to a need or demand identified by the public;
• Furthers the mission of the Agency;
• Reduces the impact of automated tools which scan the City’s website for data;
• Fosters agency/interagency efficiency; or
• Creates economic opportunity.

Public Input and Participation

Public input is essential to selecting and disseminating information. The NYC OpenData portal includes an online forum to solicit feedback from the public and to encourage public discussion on open data policies and public data set availability. Agencies should use this forum to solicit recommendations regarding the presentation of data, data types, and metadata from individuals, groups, and organizations.

Public Review

Public review creates a means for Agencies to establish and maintain communications with members of the public and governments inside and outside the City’s jurisdiction. Such review ensures that Agencies create valuable information products, along with ways of disseminating information.

Inter-agency Coordination

Interoperability makes data more valuable by making it easier to derive new uses from combinations of data. If data sets from two or more Agencies refer to the same kinds of things, the Agencies that create the data sets should strive to make them interoperable. This may mean developing a shared data specification or adopting an existing specification, through coordination between Agencies. The use of open data formats often, but not always, entails interoperability. However, Agencies must weigh the advantages of distributing non-interoperable data quickly against the net gain of investing in interoperability and delaying a release of the data.