Comments on: Opening up access to NYC data?

By: NYC data, wide open « Spatiality

NYC data, wide open « Spatiality — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:59:40 +0000

[...] two related initiatives, a new “DataMine” website and the NYC BigApps competition. I blogged about both items last month, and though I was skeptical then, I’m quite impressed [...]

By: » Improving Access to Information is One Way to Make Reporting Cheaper Velo, Rapido

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:13:49 +0000

[...] Romalewski, a pioneer of web-based GIS and community mapping projects, is also skeptical of the contest. He notes that it offers no explicit guarantee that any datasets will be fully [...]

By: Community Media’s Path Out of Obscurity « The Levisa Lazer

Community Media’s Path Out of Obscurity « The Levisa Lazer — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:49:40 +0000

[...] Romalewski, a pioneer of web-based GIS and community mapping projects, is also skeptical of the contest. He notes that it offers no explicit guarantee that any datasets will be fully [...]

By: Steven Romalewski

Steven Romalewski — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:02:09 +0000

Thanks for your note. I’ll take a look at the Open Gov NYC group site.

I only have the 2001 inventory in hard copy and the scanned PDF version. It was part of a series of meetings hosted by the New York Area Data Council in 2002 on the topic of “data integration” within New York City agencies and on a regional basis.

Your comment reminds me, though, of another similar effort in 1997 that also might be a helpful starting point for a public data directory. The Center for Urban Research created a regional compendium of statistical data sets called “FYI : a comprehensive guide to statistical sources for the New York City Metropolitan Area : 1997″. Here’s the cover image and a screenshot. We have a couple of extra copies at our Center, and the NY Public Library has a reference copy (http://www.nypl.org/research/sibl/govt/govlocal.htm). But here’s a link to an Access database with the underlying entries: FYI database.

By: Philip Ashlock

Philip Ashlock — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:10:40 +0000

I wasn’t aware that this 2001 directory was available anywhere online, thanks for posting it. The Open Gov NYC group has been working with Sunlight Labs through transparencycorps.org to digitize the public data directory, but until now, we just had access to the 1993 document. It’ll be interesting to compare the two. The goal was to first digitize the directory, update it piece by piece as much as possible and provide that for the National Data Catalog. I’m guessing you only have this document as a scanned PDF, not in any machine readable form? In any case, it’d be great if you could help the group out with this effort. I’ve got a blog post that covers some of this work and frames it in the larger context – http://topplabs.org/civichacker/2009/08/help-open-the-big-apple/