Section 23-501
§ 23-501 Definitions. As used in this chapter: a. "Agency" means an
office, administration, department, division, bureau, board, commission,
advisory committee or other governmental entity performing a
governmental function of the city of New York.
b. "Data" means final versions of statistical or factual information
(1) in alphanumeric form reflected in a list, table, graph, chart or
other non-narrative form, that can be digitally transmitted or
processed; and (2) regularly created or maintained by or on behalf of
and owned by an agency that records a measurement, transaction, or
determination related to the mission of an agency. Such term shall not
include information provided to an agency by other governmental
entities, nor shall it include image files, such as designs, drawings,
maps, photos, or scanned copies of original documents, provided that it
shall include statistical or factual information about such image files
and shall include geographic information system data. Nothing in this
chapter shall be deemed to prohibit an agency from voluntarily
disclosing information not otherwise defined as "data" in this
subdivision, nor shall it be deemed to prohibit an agency from making
such voluntarily disclosed information accessible through the single web
portal established pursuant to section 23-502.
c. "Department" means the department of information technology and
telecommunications or any successor agency.
d. "Determination" means any final decision made by an agency with
respect to a person, including, but not limited to: (1) eligibility for
services or benefits; (2) issuing a permit; (3) registration,
certification and licensing; and (4) liability for civil and criminal
penalties.
e. "Measurement" means to quantify by means of comparison to a
reference standard any characteristic of an observable event, occurrence
or object.
f. "Open standard" means a technical standard developed and maintained
by a voluntary consensus standards body that is available to the public
without royalty or fee.
g. "Public data set" means a comprehensive collection of interrelated
data that is available for inspection by the public in accordance with
any provision of law and is maintained on a computer system by, or on
behalf of, an agency. Such term shall not include:
(1) any portion of such data set to which an agency may deny access
pursuant to the public officers law or any other provision of a federal
or state law, rule or regulation or local law;
(2) any data set that contains a significant amount of data to which
an agency may deny access pursuant to the public officers law or any
other provision of a federal or state law, rule or regulation or local
law and where removing such data would impose undue financial or
administrative burden;
(3) data that reflects the internal deliberative process of an agency
or agencies, including but not limited to negotiating positions, future
procurements, or pending or reasonably anticipated legal or
administrative proceedings;
(4) data stored on an agency-owned personal computing device, or data
stored on a portion of a network that has been exclusively assigned to a
single agency employee or a single agency owned or controlled computing
device;
(5) materials subject to copyright, patent, trademark, confidentiality
agreements or trade secret protection;
(6) proprietary applications, computer code, software, operating
systems or similar materials; or
(7) employment records, internal employee-related directories or
lists, and facilities data, information technology, internal
service-desk and other data related to internal agency administration.
h. "Technical standard" means (1) the common and repeated use of
rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related
processes and production methods, and related management systems
practices; and (2) (i) the definition of terms; (ii) classification of
components; (iii) delineation of procedures; (iv) specifications of
dimensions, materials, performance, designs or operations; (v)
measurement of quality and quantity in describing materials, processes,
products, systems, services or practices; (vi) test methods and sampling
procedures; or (vii) descriptions of fit and measurements of size or
strength.
i. "Transaction" means any interaction between an agency and any
person related to the mission of an agency.
j. "Voluntary consensus standards body" means a domestic or
international organization that develops and maintains a technical
standard that utilizes a transparent deliberative process, permits the
participation of any party, and achieves general consensus, although not
necessarily unanimity, of the participating parties, including a process
for attempting to resolve any differences in viewpoint.
Section 23-502
§ 23-502 Public data set availability. a. Within one year of the
effective date of this chapter and thereafter, the public data sets that
agencies make available on the Internet shall be accessible through a
single web portal that is linked to nyc.gov or any successor website
maintained by, or on behalf of, the city of New York. If an agency
cannot make all such public data sets available on the single web portal
pursuant to this subdivision, the agency shall report to the department
and to the council which public data set or sets that it is unable to
make available, the reasons why it cannot do so and the date by which
the agency expects that such public data set or sets will be available
on the single web portal.
b. Such public data sets shall be made available in accordance with
technical standards published by the department pursuant to section
23-505 of this chapter and shall be in a format that permits automated
processing and shall make use of appropriate technology to notify the
public of all updates.
c. Such public data sets shall be updated as often as is necessary to
preserve the integrity and usefulness of the data sets to the extent
that the agency regularly maintains or updates the public data set.
d. Such public data sets shall be made available without any
registration requirement, license requirement or restrictions on their
use provided that the department may require a third party providing to
the public any public data set, or application utilizing such data set,
to explicitly identify the source and version of the public data set,
and a description of any modifications made to such public data set.
Registration requirements, license requirements or restrictions as used
in this section shall not include measures required to ensure access to
public data sets, to protect the single web site housing public data
sets from unlawful abuse or attempts to damage or impair use of the web
site, or to analyze the types of data being used to improve service
delivery.
e. Such public data sets shall be accessible to external search
capabilities.
Section 23-503
§ 23-503 Web portal administration. a. The department may take
reasonable measures to maintain bandwidth availability of the web
portal.
b. The department shall conspicuously publish the open data legal
policy, as provided in section 23-504, on the web portal.
c. The department shall implement an on-line forum to solicit feedback
from the public and to encourage public discussion on open data policies
and public data set availability on the web portal.
d. Requests received via the on-line forum for inclusion of particular
public data sets shall be considered by agencies in making
determinations as to priority for public data set inclusion on the
single web portal pursuant to paragraph 5 of subdivision b of section
23-506 of this chapter.
Section 23-504
§ 23-504 Open data legal policy. a. Public data sets made available on
the web portal are provided for informational purposes. The city does
not warranty the completeness, accuracy, content or fitness for any
particular purpose or use of any public data set made available on the
web portal, nor are any such warranties to be implied or inferred with
respect to the public data sets furnished therein.
b. The city is not liable for any deficiencies in the completeness,
accuracy, content or fitness for any particular purpose or use of any
public data set, or application utilizing such data set, provided by any
third party.
c. This chapter shall not be construed to create a private right of
action to enforce its provisions. Failure to comply with this chapter
shall not result in liability to an agency.
Section 23-505
§ 23-505 Internet data set policy and technical standards. a. Within
one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this chapter, the
department shall prepare and publish a technical standards manual for
the publishing of public data sets in raw or unprocessed form through a
single web portal by city agencies for the purpose of making public data
available to the greatest number of users and for the greatest number of
applications and shall, whenever practicable, use open standards for web
publishing and e-government. Such manual shall identify the reasons why
each technical standard was selected and for which types of data it is
applicable and may recommend or require that data be published in more
than one technical standard. The manual shall include a plan to adopt or
utilize a web application programming interface that permits application
programs to request and receive public data sets directly from the web
portal. Such manual shall be updated by the department as necessary.
b. The department shall consult with voluntary consensus standards
bodies and shall, when such participation is feasible, in the public
interest and is compatible with agency and departmental missions,
authorities and priorities, participate with such bodies in the
development of technical and open standards.
Section 23-506
§ 23-506 Agency compliance plan. a. Within eighteen months of the
effective date of this chapter, the department shall submit a compliance
plan to the mayor and the council and shall make such plan available to
the public on the web portal. Each agency shall cooperate with the
department in its preparation of such plan. The plan shall include a
summary description of public data sets under the control of each agency
on or after the effective date of this chapter, and shall prioritize
such public data sets for inclusion on the single web portal on or
before December 31, 2018 in accordance with the standards promulgated by
the department pursuant to section 23-505 and shall create a timeline
for their inclusion on the single web portal. If a public data set or
sets cannot be made available on the single web portal on or before
December 31, 2018, the plan shall state the reasons why such set or sets
cannot be made available, and, to the extent practicable, the date by
which the agency that owns the data believes that it will be available
on the single web portal.
b. For purposes of prioritizing public data sets, agencies shall
consider whether information embodied in the public data set: (1) can be
used to increase agency accountability and responsiveness; (2) improves
public knowledge of the agency and its operations; (3) furthers the
mission of the agency; (4) creates economic opportunity; or (5) responds
to a need or demand identified by public consultation.
c. No later than July fifteen, 2014 and every July fifteen thereafter,
the department shall submit and post on the web portal an update of the
compliance plan to the mayor and the council until all public data sets
have been made available through a single web portal in compliance with
this chapter. Such update shall include the specific measures undertaken
to make public data sets available on the single web portal since the
immediately preceding update, specific measures that will be undertaken
prior to the next update, an update to the list of public data sets, if
necessary, any changes to the prioritization of public data sets and an
update to the timeline for the inclusion of data sets on the single web
portal, if necessary. If a public data set cannot be made available on
the single web portal on or before December 31, 2018, the update shall
state the reasons why it cannot and, to the extent practicable, the date
by which the agency believes that such public data set will be available
on the single web portal.
To the extent possible under law, Friends of Devin Balkind for Public Advocate has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to New York City Administrative Code. This work is published from: United States.
Special thanks to Benjarmin Kallos and Thom Neale who made this content publicly available as a bulk download.