NYC adopts open data law #nyc #opengov

nyc.gov - Always OpenNYC Council Member Gale A. Brewer has long campaigned for an Open Data statute for the City. Indeed her original public hearing was back in June 2009, when she first introduced draft legislation. Another public hearing was held in June 2010. The law has finally passed, and was signed into law by Mayor Bloomberg on March 7 2012.

The law has provisions such as:

  • City agencies until 2018 to get all their data online and searchable.
  • Data to be machine readable and available via an API.
  • DoITT to produce guidelines for City agencies by October 2012
  • Agencies to report what data sets they have by August 2013
  • Agencies to submit a compliance report before March 2014.
  • Data is to be made available in one central location at NYC.gov.
  • If agencies opt-out they must make public their reasons for doing so.
  • DoITT to consult with the public and open standards bodies to ensure usability.

Video of the signing ceremony