Open Data Week Events (2017–Present)

Open Data 101 for Culture and Arts

Led by the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, this webinar introduces the core concepts, practices, and public benefits of open data through the lens of the culture and arts sector. It explains what “open data” actually means, how it differs from internal or private data, and why it matters for organizations seeking to understand their impact, advocate for resources, or strengthen transparency. Participants will learn about basic standards, common tools, and examples of how open data is used in the United States and internationally to inform policy and support cultural ecosystems.

The goal is to give participants the confidence and foundational knowledge needed to engage meaningfully in open data practices and to understand the value of joining broader open-data efforts such as the Institute’s Cultural Data Commons, a community-governed open data infrastructure designed to make cultural-sector information accessible, ethical, and equity-centered for artists, cultural workers, organizations, and public agencies.

Organizations: Culture & Arts Policy Institute

2026

Virtual

Class / Training

NYC Health Department Health Data Tour

Join us for an overview of NYC Health Department data resources from surveys, disease surveillance, vital statistics, and more. You can use these data to inform your research, advocacy, programming, and policy.

Health Department experts will guide you through the variety of health data resources available at nyc.gov/health/data. We'll describe how to access and use EpiQuery, Environment and Health Data Portal, Community Health Profiles, and NYC Open Data resources. Plus, get an orientation to three new data tools: Respiratory Illness Data Tool, Childhood Vaccination Data Explorer, and Provisional Birth and Death Data Tool. 

This workshop is perfect for anyone who wants to create a healthier, more equitable New York City: public health professionals, community-based organizations, community boards, city agencies, elected officials, health workers, advocates, and everyday New Yorkers. The data shown can be used for research, grant writing, policy formation, programming, and evaluation. Anyone in NYC who engages in those activities as part of their work, education, or community involvement would benefit.

Organizations: New York City Health Department

2026

EpiQuery (https://a816-health.nyc.gov/hdi/epiquery/), Environment and Health Data Portal (https://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/IndicatorPublic/), New York City Community Health Profiles (https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/data/data-publications/profiles.page), Respiratory Illnesses in New York City (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/respiratory-illness-data/index.html#/)

Virtual

Demonstration

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From Open Data to Urban Impact: Data-Driven Research on Health, Safety, and Policy in New York City

We invite you to attend this student research showcase highlighting how publicly available data from New York City, including NYC Open Data, can be used to study pressing issues in public health.  Students from NYU's School of Global Public Health Department of Biostatistics will deliver presentations demonstrating how modern statistical modeling, causal inference, machine learning, and geospatial analysis can be applied to large-scale real-world data to generate actionable insights for policymakers, public health professionals, and the general public. Together, these projects will demonstrate how open and public data sources can be leveraged to study public health issues and policy effectiveness at the neighborhood and citywide levels.

Organizations: NYU GPH Department of Biostatistics

2026

DOHMH New York City Restaurant Inspection Results [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/43nn-pn8j], New York City Leading Causes of Death [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/jb7j-dtam], Motor Vehicle Collisions - Crashes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/h9gi-nx95]

Hybrid

Lightning Talk

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Reclaiming the Night: Urban Light Pollution, Solutions, and Open Data

New York, the city that never sleeps, is too bright. Light pollution disrupts wildlife, affects human well-being, wastes money and energy, contributes to climate change, and blocks our view of the universe. But there are ways to fix it. In this workshop, you will learn the basics of light pollution, the solutions, New York's efforts to control it, and available open datasets for measuring and mapping nighttime lights in the city and worldwide. This workshop is open to everyone who cares about the night.

About the presenter:
Ruoyu Li: graduate student in urban data science at the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP); data analysis and social impact intern at DarkSky International; leader of DarkSky's New York state chapter; treasurer of the NYU student chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS); and an advocate for the dark sky movement for over a decade.

Co-organizers:
DarkSky New York;
NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP);
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) NYU Student Chapter

Individuals: Ruoyu Li, Graduate Student, NYU CUSP | Organizations: DarkSky New York, NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) NYU Student Chapter

2026

311 Service Requests from 2020 to Present [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/erm2-nwe9]

Hybrid

Workshop

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Childcare in the City: What NYC Open Data Tells Us About Family Policy

Childcare in the City is a student-led Open Data Week event exploring how NYC Open Data can power public storytelling and policy communication. Undergraduate students from Barnard College analyzed data from the NYC Work and Family Leave Survey and translated their findings into a short podcast featuring expert guests Dr. Meredith Slopen (Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare) and Dr. Jane Waldfogel (Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Children's and Youth Problems at Columbia University School of Social Work).
The event opens with a live listening of the student-produced podcast, followed by a moderated talkback with the graduate student mentors, student creators and expert guests. Together, they discuss their findings, the role of open data in civic life, and what the numbers reveal about childcare and family wellbeing in New York City—a timely topic given ongoing mayoral and gubernatorial conversations around universal childcare.
This 90-minute, in-person event is held on the Barnard College campus and is open to students, educators, researchers, and anyone interested in open data, storytelling, and family policy. Register here

Organizations: Barnard College Vagelos Computational Science Center (CSC)

2026

New York City Work and Family Leave Survey (WFLS) 2014 [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/grnn-mvqe]

Hybrid

Presentation

From Data to Policy: How the NYC Council Turns City Data Into Action

Join the NYC Council Data Team for an inside look at how open and administrative data drive policymaking at the Council. In this interactive exhibition, Senior Data Scientist Reese Hirota and Data Scientists Taylor Francisco, Danylo Orlov, and Erik Brown will showcase four tools designed for evidence-based decision-making. From tracking citywide trends in domestic violence and evaluating Vision Zero safety interventions to mapping public restroom equity and optimizing fieldwork with StoopLoops, attendees will see firsthand how raw datasets become transparent tools for the public.
This session is ideal for civic tech enthusiasts, policy researchers, and engaged New Yorkers eager to understand the "how" behind city oversight. The event will feature 40 minutes of guided walkthroughs focused on the design and impact of these platforms, followed by an interactive Q&A. During the session, participants will have the opportunity to explore the dashboards themselves, engaging directly with the team to uncover data-driven insights relevant to their own communities.
By bridging the gap between raw information and legislative action, these projects demonstrate that open data is the essential foundation for a more equitable NYC. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how the Council identifies citywide needs, tracks outcomes, and makes the policymaking process more transparent and data-informed.

Organizations: New York City Council Data Team

2026

Public Restrooms [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/i7jb-7jku]

Hybrid

Exhibition

Street Trees and Housing Markets: An Open-Data Analysis of NYC's Urban Greening

Street tree planting delivers well-documented environmental and public health benefits, but it also interacts with housing markets in complex ways. This virtual session uses open data to explore how urban greening strategies may shape housing prices and rents in New York City.

Drawing on NYC Open Data and other publicly available housing, demographic, and environmental datasets, the presentation will walk through the data sources, modeling approach, and key findings of this analysis. The session also features a live demonstration of a web-based interactive simulation tool that allows participants to explore different tree-planting scenarios and their potential market impacts, supporting more informed, transparent, and equitable decision-making around urban greening investments. This session is designed for planners, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and community members. No technical background is required.

The project is led by Dr. Hanxue Wei, Industry Assistant Professor at NYU's Center for Urban Science + Progress (CUSP). Archy Guo, Graduate Research Assistant at CUSP, is leading the presentation and conducting the core analytical work. The project team also includes Dr. Max Vilgalys, Climate Policy Analyst at NYC Office of Management and Budget, and Dr. Alex Azan, Assistant Professor at NYU Langone Health.

Individuals: Hanxue Wei, Industry Assistant Professor, New York University; Archy Guo, Research Assistant, New York University; Max Vilgalys, Climate Policy Analyst, NYC Office of Management and Budget; Alex Azan, Assistant Professor, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

2026

Forestry Tree Points [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hn5i-inap]

Hybrid

Presentation

Festival Keynote: Rahul Bhargava on Community Data

Join the CUNY Graduate Center for a pre-Open Data Week keynote featuring Rahul Bhargava, the author of Community Data, featuring a short live data sonification performance by NYC’s own samba reggae drumline Fogo Azul. Presented by the Masters in Data Analysis and Visualization and the Masters in Digital Humanities programs.

Datafication has driven the adoption of new quantified processes in civic contexts, but our tools and methods haven’t adapted to be more participatory and empowering. The traditional toolbox of surveys, spreadsheets, and charts wasn’t designed for community settings. Artists, planners, designers, non-profits, journalists, and others are pushing the boundaries of data representation in order to meet audiences where they are with impactful multi-sensory data stories. Physical data sculptures, embodied data theatre, participatory data murals, data sonification performance—these are the new practices we need to cultivate in order to engage larger groups of people around data in community settings. Join us to explore how we can hear, feel, smell, and taste our data to create more inclusive data experiences.

Individuals: Rahul Bhargava, Assistant Professor, Journalism, Art + Design, Northeastern University | Organizations: CUNY Graduate Center

2026

In-Person

Presentation

Queens & Me: Neighborhood Stories Beyond the Data

What’s your Queens story? Join Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and other No, YOU Tell It! producers to discover the personal stories behind the public places we share. Participants will use writing prompts to interact with the Queens Name Explorer, an interactive digital map developed by Queens Memory and Urban Archive, alongside data gathered from numerous New York City and State sources. Together, we will learn the historical significance behind the people's names that grace Queens streets, parks, monuments, and more, including luminaries who will be honored at the Women’s History Month exhibition on view at Culture Lab LIC, where this workshop will be held.
Participants will explore their place in Queens through a series of written and visual prompts, including a scavenger hunt through the exhibition to engage with the personal stories of these historic Queens women. The program will culminate in a story-sharing activity that invites participants to pick a point on the map and trade tales of their experiences on that spot to enrich local history with our shared and unique stories.
Register here.

Organizations: Queens Memory at Queens Public Library, Culture Lab LIC, No, YOU Tell It!, Urban Archive

2026

Street Name Dictionary [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/w4v2-rv6b], NYC Parks Monuments [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6rrm-vxj9]

In-Person

Workshop

Old Growth & New Data: An Evening in Nature at Inwood Hill Park

Join NYC Parks and Macaulay Honors College for an evening bioblitz at Inwood Hill Park, which is part of the Old-Growth Forest Network and accessible via subway. Tina Cuevas, natural areas outreach coordinator at NYC Parks, will discuss restoration activities within NYC Parks and how monitoring plays a large part in how Parks works within our city’s natural areas and beyond. Kelly O’Donnell, lead NYC organizer for City Nature Challenge & director of Science Forward at Macaulay Honors College, will contextualize the data that iNaturalist captures and becomes part of a larger global dataset that helps scientists with their research all over the globe.
 
Participants will learn how to use the iNaturalist app to take data observations of local plants and wildlife. They will be able to learn how to lead their own bioblitzes and engage with the iNaturalist community and at City Nature Challenge in April as well. Part of this will also be a walk to discuss plants that may be emerging in early spring, a discussion on local park history, and about projects that may have used iNaturalist data. Come dressed in sturdy boots or shoes, long sleeves, long pants, and clothing that can get dirty.

The meeting point for this event will be the Payson Playground at Inwood Hill Park, 285-287 Dyckman St, New York, NY 10034

Individuals: Tina Cuevas, Natural Areas Outreach Coordinator, NYC Parks Environment & Planning Division; Kelly O’Donnell, lead NYC organizer for City Nature Challenge & Director of Science Forward, Macaulay Honors College; Novem Auyeung, Director of Research & Monitoring, NYC Parks Environment & Planning Division | Organizations: NYC Parks, Macaulay Honors College

2026

All of NYC on iNaturalist: (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=674&subview=map), City Nature Challenge - New York City (https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-new-york-city )

In-Person

Workshop

Tracing the City: Data Science for Social Good Student Work Exhibition & Reception

Tracing the City features student work from The Cooper Union’s interdisciplinary course, Data Science for Social Good, that pairs engineering, art, and architecture students with New York City nonprofits to help address real-world challenges together. Through the course, Cooper Union students help these organizations explore open datasets drawn from NYC Open Data sources, communicate findings visually, and propose data-informed interventions. Projects often highlight disparities in health outcomes, environmental conditions, educational access, and justice-system involvement across different city neighborhoods. This year, students are collaborating with NYC-based nonprofits—including organizations such as Bee U, Civic Health Alliance, and Justicia Lab, and Housing Rights Initiative—to investigate how open data can support youth empowerment, community health, tenancy protections, and corporate wage theft.
For Open Data Week 2026, we are hosting a public exhibition and reception showcasing work from this year’s Data Visualization and Data Science for Social Good cohort, alongside selected projects from previous years. The exhibition will feature a range of student work installed in The Cooper Union Civic Projects Lab; ranging from interactive installations, posters, visual narrative studies, and digital prototypes— all built using NYC Open Data and nonprofit partner datasets. The event is designed to be highly participatory: student teams will be present throughout the space to walk attendees through their datasets, demonstrate interactive components, discuss methodologies, and engage in open conversation about their findings and design choices. Rather than a static gallery, the exhibition will function as an open studio environment where visitors can test interactives, review visual drafts, ask questions directly to student creators, and learn how open data is used to support real-world challenges faced by NYC communities. A brief opening talk will introduce the pedagogy of the course and the role of open data in civic problem-solving, but the emphasis will be on hands-on engagement and informal dialogue. The goal is to create an accessible and welcoming public space where open data comes alive through student-led exploration, community insight, and interactive design.

Organizations: The Cooper Union

2026

EquityNYC (https://equity.nyc.gov/domains/empowered-residents-and-neighborhoods/voter-turnout-rate), Election Atlas (https://www.electionatlas.nyc/tables.html), Voter Registration (https://data.cccnewyork.org/data/bar/1296/voter-registration#1296/a/1/1511/129), NYC Community Health Profile (https://a816-health.nyc.gov/hdi/profiles/)

In-Person

Exhibition

Mapping Green Space Access: Turn Data into Community Action

A workshop that uses NYC Open Data to map green space access gaps, not just where parks exist, but who can actually reach them. We'll identify transit barriers, unsafe pedestrian routes, and vacant lots with conversion potential, then equip participants with concrete tools to turn that analysis into community advocacy.

The core question isn't whether parks are near enough, it's whether people can access them. A park two miles away with no bus route might as well not exist for the people who need it most. Participants will learn to map those gaps and identify actionable solutions: Which bus route needs extending? Which vacant lot could become a neighborhood green space? Which crosswalk is missing? This workshop is about democratizing spatial analysis so that communities, not just planners, have the data to advocate for themselves.

By the end, participants will have learned what it takes to create a working map of access gaps in a neighborhood of their choosing, a set of targeted recommendations, and guidance on how to present that data to the decision-makers who can act on it.

This event will be held at the Little Red School House, 272 Avenue of the Americas.

Individuals: Jacob Farkas, Director of Technology, LREI - Little Red School House

2026

NYC Planimetric Database: Open Space (Parks) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/g84h-jbjm]

In-Person

Demonstration

Open Data Lightning Talk Showcase

Come to the NYC Office of Technology & Innovation offices at 2 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn for a series of lightning talks, each of which explores how open data interacts with aspects of everyday life. Afterwards, join us for a happy hour a few blocks away at Sound & Fury Brewery and Kitchen (141 Lawrence St, Brooklyn).

These lightning talks will cover projects on the price of groceries, picking public schools, deciding delivery routes, applying to city jobs and compliance for small property owners. Full details of the talks will be added as they get confirmed. 

Andre Debuisne “Using Open Data to accurately generate hyperlocal delivery routes in NYC”
Hudson Shipping Co generates its own delivery routes using in-house optimization technology. Part of the input data comes from NYC Open Data, which helps the last-mile operator find the best route for a given day, based on road conditions, planned street closures and many other data points.

Adrian Liang “Applying to NYC's public high schools by harnessing NYC Open Data resources”
Every year, over 70,000 NYC public middle school students take part in the high school application process. This involves researching and deciding what programs to list on applications from over 900 possible high school program choices. NYC-SIFT aggregates public data from over 20 different datasets found on NYC Open Data and NYC DOE InfoHub. This talk will include a discussion of relevant datasets, how this data is organized, and how students and parents use this data to make informed decisions during the high school application process.

Charles Ludwig "One Search, 4,000+ Careers: Unifying New York’s Public Sector Government Job Market"
Navigating public service careers shouldn’t require checking ten different websites. This talk explores the development of NY Gov Jobs, a unified platform that aggregates over 4,000 active salaried listings across NYC City agencies, New York State, CUNY, SUNY, the MTA, public health systems, and the NYPL. We’ll discuss the technical challenges of normalizing data from multiple jurisdictions and how a single, browser-friendly interface can democratize access to public sector employment.

Shiva Muthiah "PriceWise - A community-built grocery price database for budget-conscious people"
This talk will demo the tool PriceWise (https://www.pricewise.nyc) — a community database of food prices that helps people digitize purchase receipts and draws from NYC Open Data to connect them with stores and neighborhoods. As New Yorkers struggle with inflation, this tool aims to help them work together to pool pricing information. 

Parris Taylor "From Transparency to Decision Infrastructure"
New York City has achieved something rare: a deeply structured, publicly accessible regulatory data ecosystem. But access is not the same as usability, and transparency is not the same as prevention. As an operator managing real assets in NYC, I’ve seen how DOB, HPD, FDNY, and DOF datasets remain difficult to operationalize for small property owners. Compliance still requires interpretation, coordination, and judgment across fragmented systems. This session explores how open data can evolve from static reporting to structured decision support. Using Brick, a compliance tool that helps identify regulations, as a case study, we will examine entity resolution across BBL and BIN identifiers and the role of AI in translating public datasets into building-specific risk signals and guided action.

Individuals: Andre Debuisne, , ; Adrian Liang, , ; Charles Ludwig , , ; Shiva Muthiah, , ; Parris Taylor, ,

2026

In-Person

Lightning Talk

NYC PIT Pop Up: CUNY Open Data Takeover Day Two

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule here.

[2pm-6pm]
Nate Cooper - Space Apps Showcase
In this session, learn about the NASA Space Apps Challenge, NASA's global data hackathon. Each year NASA posts 11 challenges to use its data in unique ways over the course of a weekend. Last year, there were over 100k participants globally. You'll meet participants from last year's hackathon including winning teams, judges, and mentors from the NYC local site. What does it take to turn an open data set into something useful, fun, and engaging? Learn what happened, what projects are still being developed, and how to build your own solutions using NASA's data. Following a presentation, we'll do a hands-on workshop so you can learn how to build your own open data app.

Individuals: Nate Cooper, Lecturer, Kingsborough Community College | Organizations: CUNY PIT Lab

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

What’s in a Dataset? Cyanotypes as Tools for Critical and Creative Data Capture

How would you describe your favorite tree to someone who had never seen it? 
Framed around themes of data feminism and critical data studies, this workshop, led by Alissa Kushner and Star Ajasin, explores the choices behind how traditional datasets and metadata describe the world around us. Participants will poke through NYC Open Data's most recent Street Tree Census, interrogating what it means to capture the essence of our urban environments into a dataset, questioning the choices, politics, and perspectives behind how data is chosen, organized, and labeled. We will then visit a tree closest to the site of the workshop and collect metadata not typically captured about it through the creation of cyanotype images (also known as sun prints), serving as a counter-method of slow and embodied data capture. Participants will leave the workshop with a more critical understanding of environmental data as well as a handmade cyanotype to take home with them.

This event is hosted at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering at 370 Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

Individuals: Alissa Kushner, Co-Lead, ; Star Ajasin, Co-Lead,

2026

2015 Street Tree Census - Tree Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uvpi-gqnh]

In-Person

Workshop

Introducing Mapping Historical New York

Join Columbia’s Center for Spatial Research and Stamen Design as they introduce Mapping Historical New York (mappinghny.com), a tool and data resource that provides census data from 1850 to 1940 at the individual level. The Digital Atlas breaks new ground by locating each person counted in the Census at their home address, sometimes before the street grid was even established. This is a living project that will expand to include all five boroughs up to the 1940 census. Learn how the data were created, how to use the tool, and download the data to make your own maps.

Individuals: Eric Brelsford, lead design technologist, Stamen Design; Dan Miller, , Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University

2025

Historic census data and basemaps (https://mappinghny.com/)

Virtual

Presentation

A Treasure Hunt through NYC Open Data

Unlock the secrets of the city in this interactive data treasure hunt! We will present a series of data-driven prompts guiding attendees through unique statistical signatures found in NYC Open Data covering topics like taxis, crime, schools, and parks. Participants will spend the session solving progressively difficult analytical questions, requiring everything from simple lookups to complex cross-referencing across datasets. 

As we discuss the answer to each prompt, a panel of experts from the New York City Chapter of The American Statistical Association will take the investigation one step deeper, presenting a bite-sized lesson on a statistical concept related to the question. Attendees will learn about tools that can be adapted to many other settings, such as distributional thinking, outlier detection, hypothesis testing, and exploratory data analysis. The session culminates in a final puzzle: figuring out the hidden theme that connects all the mystery answers together. This session is ideal for data scientists, students, civic tech enthusiasts, or anyone looking to sharpen their analytical toolkit, Open data scientific educational opportunity for all, undergraduate and graduate students very welcome.

Organizations: New York City Chapter of The American Statistical Association

2026

2023 Yellow Taxi Trip Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/4b4i-vvec], Open Streets Locations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uiay-nctu], Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests Results [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/k8ah-28f4], NYC Parks Monuments [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6rrm-vxj9]

In-Person

Other

What's New for Family History

Ken Cobb and Marcia Kirk from the Department of Records and Information Services will present a discussion and demonstration of newly released voter registration records available on Ancestry.com. These records document the period from 1915-1956 and include several important events: women's right to vote, both World Wars, and the Great Depression.

Open to researchers and people interested in researching genealogy, family history, local history, voting patterns, population movement. This is an in-person event at the NYC Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers Street, NYC in Room 111.

Individuals: Kenneth R. Cobb, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Records and Information Services; Marcia Kirk, Research Associate, Civic Plus Liaison, Department of Records and Information Services

2026

NYC Historical Vital Records: Index to Digitized Death Certificates [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/797j-9xvg], NYC Historical Vital Records: Index to Digitized Marriage Certificates [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/j62e-7maa], NYC Historical Vital Records: Index to Digitized Birth Certificates [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/5gq7-rgmv], NYC Historical Vital Records: Index to Digitized Marriage Licenses [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/d8dr-nyhw]

In-Person

Presentation

Stitching the Borough: Embroidering Meaning Through Open Data

Join artist Astrid Malter at BRIC for an introductory embroidery workshop and create your own meaningful map using NYC’s Open Data. In the first half of this workshop, Astrid will give a presentation on her methods and the data behind her hand-stitched map of Brooklyn that compares the location of MTA bus stop shelters to the Heat Vulnerability Index. The second half of the workshop will give participants time to learn basic embroidery techniques and explore making art with a public dataset of their choosing. 

This event is open to beginners and all embroidery materials will be provided. If possible, participants should bring a phone, tablet, or computer to access public datasets.

Individuals: Astrid Malter, Artist,

2026

Heat Vulnerability Index Rankings [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/4mhf-duep]

In-Person

Workshop

Weaving New York’s Data into Fiber Art

Taking data out of the digital in and into the physical, in this workshop attendees will learn how to turn data into a tapestry through weaving. Taught by Sarah Kay Miller, a data visualization designer and artist with a background in knitting, quilting, and weaving, datasets will transform from numbers into colorful and textural works of art. Participants will learn the basics of weaving, and how to creatively interpret a dataset into art to create a data physicalization. All materials will be provided.

Individuals: Sarah Kay Miller, Data Visualization Designer, sarahkaymiller.com

2026

DOB Complaints Received [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/eabe-havv], Air Quality [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/c3uy-2p5r], 2015 Street Tree Census - Tree Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uvpi-gqnh], New York City Population by Borough, 1950 - 2040 [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/xywu-7bv9]

In-Person

Workshop

Leveraging Open Data to Build Safe, Just, and Thriving Communities

The Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering will host an evening convening from 4:00–6:00 PM, followed by a light reception from 6:00–7:00 PM. The event brings together students, researchers, public-sector leaders, and community partners to explore how open urban data informs public decision-making in New York City. The program highlights applied work at the intersection of data science, governance, and community outcomes, with a focus on how publicly available datasets are interpreted and translated into policy and practice.

The formal program begins with remarks from CUSP leadership, followed by 10-minute lightning talks from students and community collaborators showcasing projects grounded in NYC Open Data. These presentations demonstrate how datasets related to public safety, housing, health, and civic accountability are analyzed, contextualized, and communicated. The evening continues with a moderated panel discussion led by CUSP's Debanjan Roychoudhury. Speakers include Alaa Moussawi, Chief Data Scientist for the New York City Council, and Sandhya Kajeepeta, Senior Researcher and Statistician at the Legal Defense Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute. The discussion will examine how open data shapes public narratives, informs institutional decision-making, and supports cross-sector collaboration.

A reception will immediately follow the panel, offering space for informal dialogue, networking, and continued cross-sector exchange. The convening is open to participants of all technical backgrounds and emphasizes thoughtful analysis, responsible data use, and real-world application within NYC governance systems.

Individuals: Peter Huu Tran, Assistant Director, Center for Urban Science + Progress, NYU Tandon; Debanjan Roychoudhury, Adjunct Faculty, Center for Urban Science + Progress, NYU Tandon | Organizations: Center for Urban Science + Progress, NYU Tandon

2026

In-Person

Panel Discussion

PyData NYC: Making Static and Interactive Viz Using Matplotlib

In this workshop with PyData NYC, we will explore 311 dataset, starting with exploratory charts (including maps), maybe creating a linked animation, and concluding with a simple interactive visualization. In doing so, we will unpack some of the fundamental concepts that underlie the architecture of Matplotlib, hopefully providing attendees with the foundation for creating effective visualizations using Matplotlib. And the vocabulary to make more effective use of AI tools. Matplotlib is a big library, and it can be difficult to know where to start.

This demo-tutorial is a guided tour through many of the essential features and concepts of Matplotlib so you can get started making publication-quality, animated, and interactive figures. We will be using the 311 dataset as a case study.

This event will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 5th Avenue) in Manhattan. Register here.

Organizations: PyData NYC, The CUNY Graduate Center

2026

311 Service Requests from 2020 to Present [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/erm2-nwe9]

In-Person

Workshop

From Open Data to Data Commons: Building Civic Infrastructure for the Culture and Arts Sector

What if the problem isn’t a lack of data, but a lack of infrastructure to share and reuse it responsibly over time?
When working with data, we often treat collection as the end of the story—focusing on efficient ways to acquire and store it—while neglecting the data's longer life: making it findable, interpretable, re-usable, and actionable beyond its original purpose. Responsible reuse depends not just on technical infrastructure but also on shared practice.
With the Culture Data Commons as a starting point, join us in conversation with Stefaan Verhulst, co-founder of the GovLab and The Data Tank, on responsible data reuse and the opportunities of data stewardship through collective practices and participatory governance. 
Organized by the Culture & Arts Policy Institute and hosted by BRIC, this session, part of Open Data Week 2026,  invites cultural leaders, researchers, technologists, policymakers, and funders to rethink data governance in the arts and to consider how collective data infrastructure can transform information into shared power.

ABOUT THE CULTURE DATA COMMONS 
Developed by the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, the Culture Data Commons (The Commons) is a collectively stewarded shared data space for the culture and arts sector. It brings together datasets, tools, and governance practices to enable organizations to share, access, and reuse information responsibly. More than a portal, it is a collaborative framework that centers participation, transparency, and collective decision-making in how culture data is stewarded and applied.

Organizations: Culture & Arts Policy Institute

2026

In-Person

Panel Discussion

Open Data Trivia Night

Think you can pivot table, left_join, and merge better than the rest? Join us at Wilka's (241 Bowery, Lower East Side) for a trivia night with a data twist as we dive into NYC Open Data and you can flex your skills in a friendly competitive environment.
What to expect: Working in teams, you'll tackle questions that require real-time data analysis using Excel, R, Python, or whatever language you prefer. You'll get to play with data and connect with fellow data enthusiasts! 
Who should attend: Data analysts, civic tech folks, and anyone curious about what you can uncover with NYC Open Data. All skill levels are welcome!

Individuals: Winnie Shen, , ; Hope Ruse, ,

2026

Affordable Housing Production by Building [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hg8x-zxpr], Property Exemption Detail [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/muvi-b6kx], Housing Maintenance Code Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/wvxf-dwi5]

In-Person

Networking

NYC PIT Pop Up: CUNY Open Data Takeover Day Three

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule.

[10am-1pm]
Lauri Goldkind - Drop-in Data Discussions & AI Dialogs for Real World Solutions
This is a one-day in-person drop-in, office hours style session aimed at human services professionals and similar public sector staff to learn about ways that Open Data and AI might be used to help their organizations, and to share experiences and challenges they currently face. The session will include hands-on activities and demos, educational materials, informal one-on-one discussions, group Q+A’s, and design activities. The first hour will include interactive table demonstrations of open data resources; the second hour will focus on the potential of AI capabilities for documenting impacts and improving organizational performance; the third hour will offer human services and local government agency staff the change to bring their data questions to office hours, meeting with like-minded colleagues, academics with domain expertise in data and AI literacy and student assistants.

[2pm-6pm]
Kierstin Gray - MindHeart AI: Developing Healing Technologies and Consensual Data Practices in the World of AI
MindHeart AI is a liberatory technology company centering the neuroscience of well being as a catalyst for intergenerational planetary healing. We create trauma-informed technologies that allow individuals to cultivate the necessary awareness to design sustainable pathways to well-being across personal, social, professional and collective communities. Utilizing the Systems Based Awareness Map, the world’s first interactive map of human awareness, we are building a scalable, equitable platform combined with experiences that we call MindHeart Activations - in-person events that support collective healing through combining culturally relevant forms of somatics, contemplative practices, land-based rituals and retreats, music and art, all designed to create an infrastructure of care as a loving response to our awareness of the rising loneliness, stress, isolation and depression experienced across the world.

Sasha Richardson - Black Knowledge Erasure Dataset
The Black Knowledge Erasure Dataset (BKED) is a research archive designed to document how AI models like GPT-5 and Gemini distort Black history and culture through specific "hallucinations". Rather than viewing these errors as random bugs, the project frames them as "epistemic erasure," where algorithms invent authorities or omit key figures in ways that mirror historical discrimination. The dataset includes the original prompts, the incorrect AI responses, and human-verified annotations that identify exactly where the models failed against standard archival sources.

Alex Conner - ººSPARK**CIVIC
ºSPARK**AI × ºDO..OS form the intelligence and operating layer behind ºSPARK**CIVIC’s NYC Data Week session, demonstrating how NYC Open Data can move from published datasets to shared understanding and clear next steps. ºSPARK**AI helps interpret complex civic data and policy context into consistent, plain-language meaning, while ºDO..OS ensures that guidance carries forward as reusable actions, templates, and handoffs across committees, agencies, partners, and the public.

Individuals: Sasha Richardson, Graduate Student, Graduate Center; Lauri Goldkind, Professor, Fordham University; Kierstin Gray, Co-Founder, HeartMindAI

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

YPT x MTA x DOT Open Data Happy Hour

Join us for a happy hour celebrating all of the great open data we have available about mobility in New York City! This happy hour is hosted by Young Professionals in Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the NYC Department of Transportation. You do not need to be a member of any of these organizations to join, all are welcome!

This happy hour is taking place at Amity Hall Downtown, 80 W 3rd St, Manhattan.

Organizations: Young Professionals in Transportation, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC Department of Transportation

2026

In-Person

Networking

NYC PIT Pop Up: Visualizing Transit Data with the MTA Day 3

The MTA and CUNY’s PIT Lab are hosting a drop-in open house at the Oculus from March 30 to April 1 (2–6 p.m. each day), and we’d love for you to stop by — whether you’re deep into local transit data or are just curious about how practitioners use real data to inform their work. MTA data engineers, scientists, and policy folks will be on hand to walk through some of our favorite datasets and visualizations, help you build your own, and — most importantly — hear from you: what data do you want to see published, and how should we be presenting it? We’re actively redesigning our MTA Metrics site and genuinely looking for feedback from folks who care about civic data, urban systems, and what good public-interest technology looks like in practice. No registration required to attend, but if you’d like to stay connected, grab a spot here: https://lu.ma/mtada
Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics).

Organizations:

2026

In-Person

Maples, Oaks, and More: The NYC Tree Map as a Stewardship Tool

Do you look up as you walk through our city, curious about the trees? Join this interactive session exploring the NYC Tree Map, a free online tool developed by NYC Parks. We’ll hear from the deputy director of Digital Media at NYC Parks, Tom Hughes, about how the NYC Tree Map was designed and developed. You’ll then have time to use desktop computers to explore the NYC Tree Map and become familiar with navigating its features. We’ll conclude by hearing from members of the Jackson Heights Beautification Group Tree LC Team  about how they utilize this tool to organize and record their tree stewardship efforts.

This event will be held at the St. John's Recreation Center (1251 Prospect Place) in Brooklyn. Register here.

Individuals: Sana Khader, Training & Resources Manager, Partnerships for Parks; TBU, NYC Parks Digital Media Team, NYC Parks Digital Media Team; TBU, Grassroots group member, Grassroots group | Organizations: Partnerships for Parks, NYC Parks, TBU

2026

2015 Street Tree Census - Tree Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uvpi-gqnh], Forestry Tree Points [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hn5i-inap]

In-Person

Class / Training

Keeping It Urban: Art, Tech, Collective

Keeping It Urban is a one-day summit, kicking off NYC Open Data Week on Friday, March 20th at Cornell Tech. It's an ode to the diversity and abundance of technology and culture born only from the density of NYC. 

This event was born from frustration with the top-down silos we kept seeing: urban tech talks that center on infrastructure and zoning, and AI conversations entirely removed from the people and becoming doomsday narratives. 

None of it actually acknowledges the creative artists, open-sourced solutions, or the human flourishing that drives the true economic engine of NYC!

So, we've curated a full day of 3 stacked panels, 4+ artist showcases, and 5+ startup pitches featuring Streetlife Ventures, Spotify, MIT Media Lab, New York City Council, Sidewalk Labs (Part of Google), Everywhere Ventures, Fauna Robotics, Backslash Artists, and more.

Celebrating the playful, inventive tech being built right now and right here at Cornell Tech & New York City!

Tickets on Luma. More info keepingiturban.com. 

This event will be held at the Tata Innovation Center, Studio 141, 11 E Loop Rd, New York, NY 10044.

Individuals: Atmika Pai, , ; Michelle Hui, , | Organizations: Cornell University

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

A Walking Tour of Gramercy Flatiron in Manhattan: How Trash Cans, Monuments and Trees Define Our Neighborhoods, Businesses and Our Culture

Baruch students are leading a data-driven walking tour of Gramercy Flatiron based on litter basket data from the NYC Department of Sanitation and monument and tree data from the NYC Parks Department.

Nothing to do with dumpster diving, but everything to do with leveraging unique data sets from NYC Open Data that are used to design a data-driven walk. The event will demonstrate how combining a myriad of datasets can drive new community gathering places and economic development.

Student docents from Baruch College and New York University will point out and discuss famous and unique places next to litter cans in the Gramercy Flatiron including famous statues and unique places in Madison Sq. Park, eateries on 5th Ave, the farmers market in Union Square and Broadway, notable homes of Dutch, English and Americans in Gramercy Park

Following a brief discussion about the architectural importance of the Courthouse, students will then lead us through Madison Square Park, pointing out important statues and plaques, notable sculpture then down Broadway through Flatiron towards Union Sq. Park. The walk will then head north through Gramercy Park ending at the Vertical Campus of Baruch College at 25th Street and Lexington Ave.

The walk begins at 12pm on the front steps of the Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State adjacent to Madison Sq. Park. Bring questions, snacks, and curiosity. The walk will last about 90 minutes.

Individuals: Joshua Moritz, Lecturer, Baruch College | Organizations: Baruch College

2026

DSNY Litter Basket (Map) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/d6m8-cwh9], NYC Parks Active and Passive Recreation [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/kcqe-vnci]

In-Person

Other

Marron Institute of Urban Management Presents: Open Data in Action

The Marron Institute of Urban Management will host an afternoon of presentations featuring research from its Transportation and Land Use, Civic Analytics, and Health, Environment and Policy programs, alongside NYU Grossman School of Medicine's City Health Dashboard and Congressional District Health Dashboard. The event will highlight how these teams apply open data to advance research and policy in transportation, urban systems and public health.
Presenters will discuss how they compile, integrate, and analyze complex datasets to inform urban policy and decision-making. They will also share approaches for making data accessible to broader audiences, including strategies for transparency, effective communication, and open access to data and research findings.
This event is intended for anyone interested in how data-driven research can strengthen policymaking, expand access to information, and promote more transparent, equitable, and effective public sector decisions.
Light refreshments will be provided.

Individuals: Elif Ensari Sucuoglu, Research Scholar and Program Deputy Director, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; Franklin Tang, Assistant Research Scholar, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; Bartosz Bonczak, Research Scientist and Lab Manager, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; Callie Clark, Doctoral Researcher, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management; Ben R. Spoer, Program Director, NYU Grossman School of Medicine | Organizations: Marron Institute of Urban Management, NYU Grossman School of Medicine

2026

Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output - Map (MapPLUTO) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/f888-ni5f], BUILDING [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/3g6p-4u5s], Topobathymetric LiDAR Data (2017) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/7sc8-jtbz]

In-Person

Presentation

NYC PIT Pop Up: Visualizing Transit Data with the MTA Day 1

The MTA and CUNY’s PIT Lab are hosting a drop-in open house at the Oculus from March 30 to April 1 (2–6 p.m. each day), and we’d love for you to stop by — whether you’re deep into local transit data or are just curious about how practitioners use real data to inform their work. MTA data engineers, scientists, and policy folks will be on hand to walk through some of our favorite datasets and visualizations, help you build your own, and — most importantly — hear from you: what data do you want to see published, and how should we be presenting it? We’re actively redesigning our MTA Metrics site and genuinely looking for feedback from folks who care about civic data, urban systems, and what good public-interest technology looks like in practice. No registration required to attend, but if you’d like to stay connected, grab a spot here: https://lu.ma/mtada
Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics).

Organizations:

2026

In-Person

NYC PIT Pop Up: CUNY Open Data Takeover Day Five

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule. 

[2pm–6pm]
Mike Spade - DuBois Does Data
35 years after slavery, Du Bois set out to provide a definitive image of the Negro condition in the United States. His data efforts not only quantified economic parity or lack thereof, he also focused on where people lived, and how they lived. During the 1900 Paris Exposition, he shared his findings with the world. But how do those findings hold up 125 years later? What has changed? Has anything stayed the same? At Du Bois Does Data, engage with his visuals, portraits, and data in a multi-sensory experience. Scents derived from the life and experience of W.E.B. Playlists charting the course of Black American music from his birth to his death, a day before the "I Have A Dream Speech." Books celebrating his work and a first edition copy of his completed passion project, Africana. Curated vintage stamps in his image, portraits, and his article in Africana will serve as activations for A/R experiences, bringing the nostalgia into the palm of your hand. In Du Bois Does Data, we also used Python to evaluate the condition of Black Americans 125 years after his exhibit using Census data in 6 Jupyter Notebooks.

Ray Brescia - Gamifying Know-Your-Rights Information
This presentation will explore the power of gamification and then describe one current work in progress, an online game, "Haunted Housing," that is designed in partnership with community-based advocacy organizations in New York City to educate youth, particularly from immigrant communities, about housing rights.  Gamification can be utilized in many other contexts–from immigrants' rights to school discipline--and I will describe our ground-up method for developing this tool and encourage others to explore similar initiatives in other contexts.

Merlin Valdez - VoteFeed.org
VoteFeed.org is a Twitter/Bluesky-like user experience that allows constituents to interact with their respective U.S. representative in congress by sharing their opinion on policies up for vote in the legislative agenda.

Individuals: Mike Spade, Teaching & Learning Manager, The Knowledge House; Ray Brescia, Professor, Albany Law School; Merlin Valdez, Interim Program Manager, The Knowledge House

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

NYC PIT Pop Up: CUNY Open Data Takeover Day One

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule.

[2pm-6pm]
Sneha Srivastava - What's Lost in the Waters? Dive into NYC's Flood Vulnerability Index
The goal of this project is to visualize the variables included in New York City’s Flood Vulnerability Index dataset. The key visualization is a three-dimensional interactive model, mapping the Flood Susceptibility to Harm and Recovery Index against the median household income of each census tract within the city, in addition to maps of future flooding scenarios. As such, the project tackles issues of environmental justice and sustainability, while addressing the policy implications of climate resilience in different neighborhoods.

The Cloud is a Place in Brooklyn
In this speculative design workshop, we ask: What if our data infrastructure lived in our neighborhood parks, schools, or community gardens? What if a data center didn't just store files, but also used its excess heat to warm a public pool in the winter? What if your neighborhood’s digital history was stored in a "Community Memory Bank" that you helped manage? What if data infrastructure was owned by communities and served community needs?

Apurva Jhamb – Brooklyn Through Data Design : Mapping Place, Power, and Urban Systems
Centered on Brooklyn, the event will showcase a series of data-driven maps and visual narratives created using NYC Open Data datasets related to housing, land use, landmarks, environmental conditions, and neighborhood change. The session will demonstrate how public data when paired with thoughtful design can move beyond technical analysis to become an accessible storytelling tool for communities, planners, designers, and civic technologists.

Individuals: Sneha Srivastava, Graduate Student, Graduate Center

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

How Trash Can, Monuments, and Trees Data Drive Walking Tour Design

Baruch College and New York University students will present their results from mining the trash can dataset available from NY Open Data sources. Students will demonstrate how this data combination of other datasets to identify famous places, plaques, statues, trees and famous buildings in the Gramercy Flatiron neighborhoods.

These presentations will be based on data from the NYC Department of Sanitation, Monuments and Plaque datasets and tree census data from the NYC Parks Department. Students will discuss famous and unique places next to litter cans in the Gramercy Flatiron including famous statues and unique places in Madison Sq. Park, eateries on 5th Ave, the farmers market in Union Square and Broadway, notable homes of Dutch, English and Americans in Gramercy Park

Nothing to do with dumpster diving, but everything to do with leveraging unique data sets from NYC Open Data  the presentations will demonstrate how combining a myriad of datasets can drive new community gathering places and economic development.

Presentations begin at 1:30pm. Meet in front of the Baruch College Welcome Center at 137A East 25th Street. The building is located in a pedestrian plaza between 3rd Ave and Lexington Ave. Attendance is limited to 30 people. Please bring an ID card (like a driver’s license) that will allow you to get through security.

Individuals: Joshua Moritz, Lecturer, Baruch College | Organizations: Baruch College

2026

DSNY Litter Basket (Map) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/d6m8-cwh9], NYC Street Tree Map - Eco Benefits [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/yne3-pqfu], NYC Parks Active and Passive Recreation [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/kcqe-vnci]

In-Person

Presentation

Open Data and Better Questions: Engaging New Yorkers to Develop Questions that Matter in the Age of AI

As one of the largest open data providers in the world—with data accessed more than 2.6 million times and downloaded from a total of more than 900,000 times—NYC Open Data has critical information about how New Yorkers live. But a question remains: For what end? What questions do we want these systems to answer? What problems do we want to solve?

On Friday, March 27th from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM at Brooklyn Central Library, The GovLab, the Brooklyn Public Library and Alliance for Public Interest Technology at New York University will be hosting a special “Questions Lab” as part of New York City Open Data Week 2026. In it, we will give New Yorkers the opportunity to formulate good, data-driven questions about the issues they care about and to meaningfully connect those questions to specific datasets in NYC Open Data or other, non-traditional repositories. It will include a brief presentation followed by small group discussion on the questions that New Yorkers care about:
- 2:00 – 2:20 PM: Setting the Scene: Stefaan Verhulst (Co-Founder, The GovLab), Diana Plunkett (Director of Data Analytics, Brooklyn Public Library), and Manny Patole (Senior Fellow, Alliance for Public Interest Technology) will explain the work that Brooklyn Library and The GovLab are doing to help residents not only understand data that describes them but to engage with it meaningfully to solve problems they care about.
- 2:20 – 2:50: Topic Mapping and Question Definition: Attendees will be broken into small groups and taught how to define data-driven questions. Each group will focus on a different domain prioritized by the New York Mayor’s Office.
- 2:50 – 3:30: Group Voting on Questions and Debrief: Each group will present their questions. Referencing NYC Open Data and other datasets, the collective group will identify what data might exist in New York to answer these questions. They will then vote on which questions they consider the highest priority based on demand, actionability, and the larger regulatory context.
 
The end result of this work will be a prioritized mapping of the questions that matter for New Yorkers. This event is open to any New York resident interested in data and how it can be used to set a policy agenda. Participants will leave the event with a practical methodology for developing well-crafted, data-driven questions and the work they produce will inform new open data research. Register here

Organizations: The Governance Lab, Brooklyn Public Library, NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology

2026

In-Person

Workshop

Walk the Data: Mapping User Experience (UX) Mobility on NYC Streets

Join this hands-on walking workshop that turns NYC streets into a living lab! Together, we will test a custom, data-enabled pedestrian routing system built from publicly available layers such as sidewalks, pedestrian ramps, traffic volumes, thermal comfort, tree canopy, and other walkability indicators. The goal is to see what these datasets capture about moving through the city and what they miss. This approach, called UX Mobility routing, was developed and tested in Milan and is now being applied to a selected NYC area to spark new insights on inclusive, experience-aware mobility.

Led by moderators from Systematica and Transform Transport, participants will follow the predefined route in small groups and use a simple guided toolkit to document the sensory, cognitive, emotional, and physical side of the walk. We will consider factors like noise, crowding, comfort, clarity, and perceived safety, then compare lived experience with what the mapped layers suggest. The session concludes with a collective data–experience gap map and a set of takeaways on how NYC Open Data could better reflect real walkability through new layers, combinations of data, or proxy indicators such as using traffic patterns to estimate noise. Open to everyone, with no technical background needed, all mobility levels welcome, and materials provided.

The meeting point for this event will be in front of 5 MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn.

Organizations: Systematica, Transform Transport

2026

Air Quality [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/c3uy-2p5r], Forestry Tree Points [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hn5i-inap], Sidewalk Management Database - All Tree Damage (ATD) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/j6v2-6uxq], Sidewalk Management Database - ReInspection [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/gx72-kirf], Sidewalk Management Database - Built [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/ugc8-s3f6], Sidewalk Management Database - Lot Info [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/i642-2fxq], Sidewalk Management Database - Inspection [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/dntt-gqwq], Sidewalk Management Database - Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6kbp-uz6m], DOT Street Lights and Traffic Signals (311 Service Requests from 2010 to Present) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/jwvp-gyiq]

In-Person

Workshop

NYC PIT Pop Up: CUNY Open Data Takeover Day Four

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule. 

[2pm-6pm]
Masaru Kakutani - From Data to Action: Addressing NYC Winter Heating Complaints with Data Visualization
I want to show how anyone interested in actionable policy can, with the help of generative AI, quickly create convincing stories. This demonstration is designed to help anyone who is interested in generating clear policy suggestions using NYC Data. A standard generative AI will assist in developing policy suggestions, but the template ensures that the AI provides only support, not direction or guidance, for those interested in creating policies.

Lisa Mae Fielder - MTA Performance Metrics
The MTA's dashboard, metrics.mta.info, which is built entirely off of open data, is going through a major redesign in 2026. We'd like to collect user feedback to better understand features and visuals that the civic tech community would want.

Michael Freedman - crashcount.nyc: an open data tool for safe-streets advocacy
Crashcount.nyc is a public, open-data–driven tool that uses NYC Open Data and AI to document and contextualize traffic crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists, with the goal of supporting safer-streets advocacy at the neighborhood and district level. This session will demonstrate how publicly available NYC datasets—particularly traffic crash data—can be transformed into clear, actionable narratives that help communities understand where traffic violence is increasing and how it relates to policy decisions, street design, and enforcement. The presentation will walk through the structure of Crashcount.nyc, the datasets it relies on, and the design decisions behind presenting complex data in a way that is usable by advocates, journalists, and community members without technical backgrounds.

Individuals: Masaru Kakutani, Student, Graduate Center; Lisa Mae Fiedler, Open Data Manager, MTA; Michael Freedman, Board Member, Riders Alliance | Organizations: CUNY PIT Lab

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

Data Docs Film Series

Data Docs: Open Data on Screen is a full-day documentary screening program at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema in Chinatown (87 Lafayette St). Four films exploring issues New Yorkers care about — street safety, housing, child care, and urban nature — are each paired with NYC Open Data datasets and followed by panel discussions with data experts, City staff, community practitioners, and, where possible, the filmmakers themselves. Between screenings, attendees can visit a data help desk in the lobby staffed by Open Data Week volunteers.

Co-presented by the NYC Office of Data Analytics and DCTV, Data Docs brings together filmmakers, academics, civic technologists, and neighborhood residents around shared data and shared stories.

Screening times are:
- Urban Nature (11:00 AM–12:45 PM): Birders: The Central Park Effect
- Transportation (1:00–3:26 PM): Citizen Science: Citi Bikes + The Map + Changing Lanes
- Universal Child Care (3:45–5:46 PM): Through the Night
- Housing & Participation (6:00–8:15 PM): Emergent City

Ticket prices are $10, or $30 for a day pass to all 4 screenings.

Organizations: DCTV, NYC Office of Data Analytics

2026

Zoning Application Portal (ZAP) - Project Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hgx4-8ukb], Motor Vehicle Collisions - Crashes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/h9gi-nx95]

In-Person

Other

Drop-in Data Discussions and AI Dialogs for Real World Solutions

This event is a half-day in-person drop-in, office hours-style session aimed at human services professionals and similar public sector staff to learn about ways that Open Data and AI might be used to help their organizations, and to share experiences and challenges they currently face. The session will include hands-on activities and demos, educational materials, informal one-on-one discussions, group Q+As, and design activities.
Come and say hi if you have questions like these about Open Data
- I want to know where things are. Is there mapped Open Data on where human services resources are located? If I manage a resource can I add to these maps?
- I want to know about local and State budgeting and finances. Is there public information about civic budgets? Where can I see capital funding allocations, for example?
- I’m curious about city planning and demographics. What is the makeup of our City? Who lives where, and why?
Or questions like these about AI
- I hear a lot about AI and how it will change everything. How are human services organizations responding to this change? What do I need to know?
- What are the risks of using AI in my work? Are there ways to minimize potential harms to my organization and our clients? 
- AI is everywhere, but what can it actually do? Can you explain how my organization can safely identify and implement AI opportunities?
We will be running activities to help you use Open Data tools to answer questions relevant to your organization's needs, to understand AI from the perspective of its capabilities (i.e. what it can do for you rather than how it works), and to identify low-risk and low-hanging fruit opportunities for using AI and Open Data in your organization. The first hour will include interactive table demonstrations of open data resources; the second hour will focus on the potential of AI capabilities for documenting impacts and improving organizational performance; the third hour will offer human services and local government agency staff the change to bring their data questions to office hours, meeting with like-minded colleagues, academics with domain expertise in data and AI literacy and student assistants.
 
About the organizers:
This event extends a series of engagements and conversations we are having with individuals and human services organizations to help navigate change and uncertainty associated with AI, and to help identify and realize opportunities offered by Open Data. We are researchers and educators committed to designing and using technology in the public interest.
- Lauri Goldkind is Professor of Social Work at the Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University. She is interested in how digital tools, artificial intelligence and open data can make the lives of individuals in and served by the social sector better. (https://www.laurigoldkind.net)
- Graham Dove is Assistant Professor at New York University, Tandon School of Engineering. His research in human-computer interaction (HCI) focuses on helping diverse groups of people design and use data-rich technologies and artificial intelligence, without requiring expertise in data science. (https://wp.nyu.edu/tandonschoolofengineering-peopleplustechnology/)

This event will be held in the NYC PIT Pop-Up. Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics).

Individuals: Lauri Goldkind, Professor, Fordham University, Graduate School of Social Service; Graham Dove, Assistant Professor, New York University, Tandon School of Engineering

2026

In-Person

Office Hours

NYC PIT Pop Up: Visualizing Transit Data with the MTA Day 2

The MTA and CUNY’s PIT Lab are hosting a drop-in open house at the Oculus from March 30 to April 1 (2–6 p.m. each day), and we’d love for you to stop by — whether you’re deep into local transit data or are just curious about how practitioners use real data to inform their work. MTA data engineers, scientists, and policy folks will be on hand to walk through some of our favorite datasets and visualizations, help you build your own, and — most importantly — hear from you: what data do you want to see published, and how should we be presenting it? We’re actively redesigning our MTA Metrics site and genuinely looking for feedback from folks who care about civic data, urban systems, and what good public-interest technology looks like in practice. No registration required to attend, but if you’d like to stay connected, grab a spot here: https://lu.ma/mtada
Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics).

Organizations:

2026

In-Person

echo{logies} — Data Through Design Exhibition

2026

In-Person

Exhibition

echo{logies} — Data Through Design Artist Panel

2026

In-Person

Panel Discussion

Accessing and Analyzing Open Data Using Power Query

Power Query is perhaps the most useful but also most unknown of Microsoft programs. Ryan Yeung, Director of Performance Evaluation and Analytics, and Lori Lam, Data Analyst, at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services will demonstrate how to connect Power Query to the Open Data portal and how to use Power Query to automate tedious Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) processes for use in Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerBI.

Individuals: Ryan Yeung, Director of Performance Evaluation and Analytics, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services; Lori Lam, Data Analyst, NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services

2025

Jobs NYC Postings [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/kpav-sd4t], Civil Service List (Active) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/vx8i-nprf], City Record Online [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/dg92-zbpx], Greenbook [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/mdcw-n682]

Virtual

Demonstration

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Behind the Numbers: Understanding the Workforce Profile Report

The Workforce Strategy Team in the Human Capital division of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services will present on the production of the Workforce Profile Report (WFPR). The WFPR is an annual summary of employee data reflecting the City of New York’s municipal workforce across 72 agencies. The team will give a broad overview of the collection of the roughly 4 million entries of city employee data across 10 years, the data processing, and the final production of our Workforce Profile Report Shiny App.  
Presenting will be Ruchika Sah, Feba George, and Manny Merino from the Workforce Data Science team at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. This event welcomes users at all levels of expertise. Anyone with an interest in large scale data projects, R programing or data processing is invited to attend. Familiarity with programing whether in R or another language such as Python is recommended. Participants will learn about the processes involved in taking this data into a final product and can ask questions involving the project or suggest improvements.

Individuals: Manny Merino, Workforce Data Scientist, NYC DCAS; Feba George, Workforce Data Scientist, NYC DCAS; Ruchika Sah, Workforce Data Scientist, NYC DCAS | Organizations: NYC DCAS

2025

Virtual

Presentation

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Data-Driven Learning: Eco Ambassadors Solutions Lab

Every year, the SDGs Today team at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), in partnership with the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, organizes the Eco Ambassadors Solutions Lab (EASL), a global program offering free virtual training that equips middle and high school students with skills in geographic information systems (GIS), data analysis, digital storytelling, and citizen science while introducing them to a deep understanding of the SDGs. This program fosters knowledge exchange across diverse regions and the creation of a dynamic network of experts and youth dedicated to addressing sustainability challenges at local and global levels.
 
The EASL offers biweekly live virtual training sessions spanning 6-8 weeks. These sessions include lectures covering the program’s overarching theme, technical training in data analysis and GIS, and group discussions on formulating data-driven solutions. Throughout the program, students engage in the development of their final projects, which are presented in an ArcGIS StoryMap at the end of the program. This data-driven storytelling tool enables them to present a narrative that is interactive and accessible to their peers, community members, decision makers, and other audiences. With the knowledge and tools acquired during the learning process and supported by our network of experts, students share their knowledge and experiences and develop action-oriented plans featuring open data to tackle sustainability challenges within their communities.
 
While this is a global program, many students from New York have demonstrated the power of open data available to them and how they’ve used it to develop solutions for tackling plastic waste, water pollution, and other environmental challenges.
 
This lightning talk will highlight an innovative approach to learning and education for sustainable development, which relies on open data and its impact on youth.

Organizations: UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), SDGs Today, Center for Sustainable Development

2025

NOAA’s Microplastics (https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.nodc:NCEI-Marine-Microplastics), Percentage distribution of plastics (), Citizen-generated data (collected by students) ()

Virtual

Presentation

Numbers & Narratives: Unlocking Data for Public Good

Join F.Y.Eye, a NYC-based nonprofit media agency that works with nonprofit clients, to explore how to harness the power of data to create powerful Public Service Announcements (PSAs). Learn about the importance of information access, how to identify relevant datasets, and craft impactful narratives that resonate with your target audience. We'll cover practical strategies for transforming raw data into powerful messages that drive social change and amplify your organization's mission. This event is for anyone curious about the power of combining data insights with compelling storytelling to amplify messages for the public good.

Organizations: F.Y. Eye

2025

Virtual

Presentation

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Using Data for Budget Transparency with IBO: Stormwater Fees, Police Overtime Trends, and the State of NYC's Public Education

The NYC Independent Budget Office (IBO) aims to enhance understanding of New York City’s budget, public policy, and economy through independent analysis. We leverage Open Data in numerous ways to achieve this goal. IBO researchers will present 3 separate projects:

- Brian Cain (Assistant Director) & Jordan Paige (Budget and Policy Analyst) modeled the cost and burden of potential stormwater fees in NYC using geographic data;
- Valerie Gudino (Budget and Policy Analyst) researched IBO police overtime trends, specifically the relationship between NYPD tenure and hours of OT usage of uniform NYPD personnel in fiscal year 2024 using tabular data; finally,
- Emma Gossett (Budget and Policy Analyst) compiled NYC Education Indicators using Department of Education student-level data that is now available in the aggregate as a public resource.

This event is perfect for anyone interested in data-driven policy analysis, or the specific areas of environmental, public safety, or education policy. IBO will present all three projects then take audience questions.

Individuals: Brian Cain, Assistant Director of Housing, Environment, & Infrastructure , NYC IBO; Valerie Gudino, Budget and Policy Analyst, NYC IBO; Emma Gossett, Budget and Policy Analyst, NYC IBO | Organizations: NYC Independent Budget Office

2025

DEP's Citywide Parcel-Based Impervious Area GIS Study [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uex9-rfq8], Citywide Payroll Data (Fiscal Year) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/k397-673e]

Virtual

Presentation

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Driving Decisions with Visualizations at Queens Public Library

Queens Public Library staff will share how we use and visualize publicly available data to glean insights about the communities we serve and inform our programs and library services.
 
We will walk provide an overview of the platforms and data sources you can utilize for data visualization (Power BI, ArcGIS Online, NYC Open Data and NYC Planning shapefiles). We will finish up by sharing free resources for further learning.
 
This is a session for anyone interested in making data-informed decision-making accessible to all.

Presenters: Kyeesha Wilcox, Josephine Lew, Jin Hyun Bae

Individuals: Kyeesha Wilcox, , Queens Public Library; Josephine Lew, , Queens Public Library; Jin Hyun Bae, , Queens Public Library | Organizations: Queens Public Library

2025

LinkNYC Kiosk Locations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/s4kf-3yrf], 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/9nt8-h7nd]

Virtual

Class / Training

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From Tools to Action: Using OpenStreetMap and BetaNYC’s Mapping for Equity Toolkit in Your Community

Join us for an interactive virtual session where we’ll introduce you to BetaNYC’s Mapping for Equity (M4E) Toolkit—a resource for learning and teaching OpenStreetMap (OSM) and organizing Mapping for Equity events. M4E is a civics and data literacy program that empowers participants to see, collect, and analyze data on New York City’s under-mapped and underrepresented public spaces, making communities more visible and equitable.

Who Should Attend?
This session is designed for community leaders, educators, advocates, and organizers who want to bring civic tech and data literacy to their neighborhoods, classrooms, and organizations. Whether you’re new to mapping or an experienced data practitioner, you’ll gain the skills to integrate mapping into your work and mobilize your community for action.

What You’ll Gain
- Comprehensive toolkit access – Receive the full set of materials needed to host and facilitate Mapping for Equity events in your community.
- A network of fellow mappers and advocates – Connect with community leaders committed to using mapping for equity.
- Ongoing collaboration and accountability – Participation in this session is just the first step. Attendees are expected to stay engaged through office hours, follow-up discussions, and applying the toolkit in their communities.

Beyond the Session: Ongoing Support & Certification
Our collaboration doesn’t end when the session does! Here’s how we’ll continue to support you:
✅ Scheduled Office Hours – Participants must book time with our team to troubleshoot challenges and receive support as they implement the toolkit.
✅ Ongoing Engagement – Regular check-ins and communication are required to ensure accountability, provide guidance, and foster a collaborative learning community.
✅ Evaluation & Improvement – Participants will be asked to provide structured feedback to help refine and enhance the toolkit.
✅ Certification – Earn a Public Interest Mapping Advocate Certification from BetaNYC upon completing the required steps of the program.

This is more than a workshop—it’s the beginning of a community movement to create maps that empower, educate, and drive change. Join us and start mapping for equity today!

Organizations: BetaNYC

2025

OpenStreetMap (https://openstreetmap.org)

Virtual

Workshop

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