Open Data Week Events (2017–Present)

Worlds We Carry: What Should We Bring to Space?

Worlds We Carry is a participatory mapping project framed through the metaphor of space travel, asking: if we were to leave Earth, what would we bring with us? New Yorkers are invited to reflect on the places they would carry into the future by contributing personal stories tied to meaningful locations across NYC. Using NYC Open Data datasets ( including the Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) dataset and the Parks Properties Map ), the project layers lived experience onto public space data to create a collective map of care, memory, and value, revealing emotional and cultural dimensions often absent from traditional maps.

This activation is located on the Second Floor at CUNY School of Law near the Cafe.

Worlds We Carry is a collaboration between Aurélie Barbier (Space To the People) and Anna Zhang 
Aurélie Barbier is a city planner and designer using digital mapping to nurture civic imagination. She has led urban planning and data projects for the World Bank and presented visualizations at Data Through Design (DxD) that reveal the poetic potential of data.
Anna Zhang is an artist and creative technologist exploring our relationship with technology. Currently an artist-in-residence at NEW INC, her award-winning work has been featured in Forbes and exhibited at the National Museum of American History and Gray Area.

Individuals: Aurelie Barbier, Co-Founder, Space to the People

2026

2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/9nt8-h7nd], Parks Properties [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/enfh-gkve], Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) - Map [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/qeta-4kqg]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Exhibition

Does this Building Suck (Energy)? Decoding Building Performance with Open Data

What can Energy Performance data tell us about the buildings around us? Through analysis and reporting such as LL84 Energy Score cards, we have a better understanding of how more sustainable design improves energy performance. This demonstration uses New York City Public Open Datasets documenting Building Energy Efficiency Ratings, which can be seen posted at the entrances to large buildings throughout the city. 

This session is hosted by a professor, a digital technology specialist, and a librarian at the New York Institute of Technology, who will explore the aggregated data sets provided through NYC Open Data to create Building Performance averages by type, borough, and square footage. Through a series of case studies and demonstrations we will learn the factors that drive these energy grades, such as types of heating and cooling systems, evidence of renovation, building square footage and relevant fiscal penalties. Attendees will be guided through accessing relevant city data, simplified pivot tables and visualization tools to help them investigate performance of the buildings in their chosen local.

Individuals: Clarke Snell, Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Design, New York Institute of Technology; Elijah Williams, Digital Technology Specialist, School of Architecture and Design, New York Institute of Technology; Vanessa Viola, Art & Architecture Librarian, Art & Architecture Library, New York Institute of Technology | Organizations: Simulated and Measured Environments Lab, School of Architecture and Design, New York Institute of Technology

2026

NYC Building Energy and Water Data Disclosure for Local Law 84 2023 to Present (Data for Calendar Year 2022-Present) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/5zyy-y8am]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

The Future of the Unhoused: Equity-Aware Forecasts & Interactive Maps of NYC Homelessness

Join us for a practical, data-driven look at the future of homelessness risk in New York City. In this session, four NYC students (Rohan Ramnarain, Marilyn Echeverria, Kevin Guillermo, and Alice Dong) will present three predictive models that forecast which NYC neighborhoods may face the greatest risk of increased homelessness over the next few years, and what the signals behind those predictions suggest for prevention and response.
Participants will spend the time in a live, interactive demo, exploring how the models work and how outputs can be interpreted, followed by an open Q&A with the presenters. This event is designed for anyone who cares about homelessness in New York City, including advocates, service providers, policy folks, community leaders, researchers, and residents who want to understand how predictive algorithms can support earlier and more targeted interventions.

Individuals: Rohan Ramnarain, Graduate Student, CUNY Graduate Center; Marilyn Echeverria, Undergraduate Student, Queens College; Kevin Guillermo, Undergraduate Student, Hunter College; Alice Dong, Undergraduate Student, Stony Brook University

2026

311 Service Requests from 2020 to Present [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/erm2-nwe9], Housing Maintenance Code Complaints and Problems [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/ygpa-z7cr], Evictions [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6z8x-wfk4]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Demonstration

The Past, Present, and Future of Open Data Tools

With 10 years of School of Data come 10 years of Open Data Tools. Andrew from BetaNYC’s Civic Innovation Lab will present a retrospective of tools presented at School of Data from past to present. Successes and outstanding challenges will be discussed, with an eye toward making the next generation of Open Data Tools practically useful in the lives of New Yorkers. To the next 10 years!

Individuals: Andrew Kittredge

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Introducing Risk Radar NYC: A New Tool for Monitoring Building Safety & Landlord Risk

How can we use open data to ensure our neighbors are safe and landlords are held accountable? Join Joel Guerrero for a showcase of Risk Radar NYC, a new digital tool that aggregates data on DOB violations, HPD complaints, and eviction histories to reveal the true condition of New York City buildings. This project empowers tenants and council members to identify neglected properties and demand adherence to safety and ethical standards.
Participants will spend this session getting hands-on with the tool. A moderator will provide access to the live app, guiding the room through its core functionalities and demonstrating how to search for and interpret critical building data. You will learn how to spot "high-risk" properties and use this data to advocate for safer living conditions.
This presentation is open to everyone but will be particularly valuable for housing advocates, community organizers, and tenants. If you are looking to learn more about tenant rights, building safety, or how to leverage technology for civic accountability, this event is for you.

Individuals: Joel Guerrero, UI/UX Engineer, Simons Foundation

2026

Housing Maintenance Code Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/wvxf-dwi5], DOB Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/3h2n-5cm9], 311 Service Requests from 2020 to Present [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/erm2-nwe9], Evictions [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6z8x-wfk4]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Making the Most of Neighborhood Data: A Roundtable for BIDs & Local Orgs

Join us for an open discussion on data - best practices, challenges, favorite tools, and innovations - for BIDs and other neighborhood organizations. The roundtable will be moderated to focus on practical, day-to-day tasks and projects. When registering, you will be able to vote on the roundtable topics that interest you.

Melissa Hsiung, Downtown Alliance

2019

From Connectivity to Connection, Transforming Digital Equity Into Action

NYC School of Data opens with a series of powerful keynote addresses from leaders shaping the future of public interest technology in New York City.

State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, Tayyab Walker, Noel Hidalgo, Martha Norrick, and Naeema (Nae) Haque will each take the stage to share their vision for how data, technology, and community power intersect at this critical moment. Through perspectives spanning government, advocacy, and grassroots organizing, these speakers will ground the day in the realities—and possibilities—of building a more transparent, equitable, and accountable city.

Together, these keynotes will explore how public interest technology and data can strengthen democracy, advance digital equity, and ensure that New York’s technological future is shaped by and for its communities.

This opening session sets the tone for the day ahead: ambitious, people-centered, and rooted in action.

Individuals: Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director, BetaNYC; Paolo Balboa, Chief Digital Equity Officer, NYC OTI; Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez , , NYC Concil; Joshua Brietbart, Senior Vice President, New York State's ConnectALL, New York State Government

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Invisible by Design: What NYC Child Welfare Data Reveals and Erases About South Asian Families

How can data both illuminate and obscure reality? In this interactive session, attorney and community advocate Shivani Parikh offers a critical look at NYC’s child welfare datasets, particularly the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) demographic data and explores how racial aggregation obscures the lived experiences of South Asian American families. Participants will learn how Asian American children appear at key stages of the child welfare system and why the absence of disaggregated South Asian data has real consequences for families navigating investigations, foster care, and termination of parental rights proceedings.

This event blends data literacy with community context. Shivani will share insights from her culturally responsive family defense guide, highlighting how open data can support ethical policymaking, culturally responsive court reforms, and Know Your Rights education for immigrant parents. Participants can expect a data-informed presentation followed by a facilitated discussion in which attendees will reflect on how to responsibly interpret child welfare data and advocate for greater transparency.

Ideal for civic technologists, policymakers, legal advocates, researchers, and community organizers, this session invites participants to rethink the role of open data in shaping public narratives and policy outcomes. No technical background is required, just curiosity about how data equity can strengthen accountability and protect families!

Individuals: Shivani Parikh, Director, South Asian Legal Defense Fund

2026

Demographics of Children and Parents at Steps in the Child Welfare System, FY 2025 (www.nyc.gov/assets/acs/pdf/data-analysis/2025/demographics-of-children-and-parents-at-steps-in-the-child-welfare-system-fy2025.pdf)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Revamping the NY Open Government Site to Connect Contributions, Contracts, and Lobbying

The New York Open Government site nyopengovernment.com developed by The Office of the New York State Attorney General provides and connects data from several New York State agencies, including data on campaign contributions and expenditures, lobbyist disclosures, government contracts, and registered charities.

In theory, this tool allows people to find entities across these datasets. But we're facing challenges in keeping the site relevant and useful (for example, currently the data on the site is out of date). I'll talk about the current state of the tool and then I'd like to hear from you:
- do/would you use this tool? What for?
- what functionality would you want to see in this tool?
- what datasets are we missing?
- what similar tools could we learn from?
- in what ways can we collaborate on developing and maintaining this tool (e.g. as an open source project)?

If you could use a way to find connections between campaign contributions, contracts and lobbying, or you'd like to help build a tool to find such connections, please join and bring your thoughts to share!

Individuals: Gautam Sisodia, Deputy Director, Research and Analytics Department, The Office of the New York State Attorney General | Organizations: The Office of the New York State Attorney General

2026

NYS lobbying data (https://ethics.ny.gov/public-data)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Other

Your Community By the Numbers: Intro to Census Data @ School of Data

Join Data Dissemination Specialist Joli Golden to learn how to use data.census.gov to access the most current and relevant demographic, socioeconomic, and housing statistics about your community. During this presentation, you will learn about the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey (ACS) and other Census Bureau programs, geographies, and datasets available. Plus, you will see live demonstrations of the search and navigation features in data.census.gov as well as how to download tables, create charts and generate thematic maps.

Individuals: Joli Golden, Data Dissemination Specialist, U.S. Census Bureau | Organizations: U.S. Census Bureau

2026

Decennial Census of Population and Housing (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html), The American Community Survey (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data.html)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Housing Equity in New York: A Study of Amenity Access and Rental Premiums

New York City is home to one of the largest rental markets in the US, with ~70% of all residents renting their apartments. While it's no secret that rents vary in price by the amenities offered by the building or the neighborhood, the distribution of public and private amenities are unevenly distributed across the city often forcing residents to choose between affordability and convenience.
The talk explores how access to public and private amenities shapes rents across New York City neighborhoods. Using spatial mapping and statistical modeling, it first examines how amenities such as parks, transit, libraries, and other public resources are distributed across the city, highlighting patterns of access and inequality. The talk then delves into the impact of proximity to certain amenities on neighborhood rent levels and then explores how premium features offered by buildings cause large variations in rents within an area. Together, the findings shed light on the relationship between public infrastructure and housing equity in New York City.
If you're interested in learning more about what drives rental premiums across the city or if you're just curious if you're getting the most bang for your buck as a renter, this session might be of interest to you! This talk will be presented by Raksha Muralidharan, a data scientist who enjoys working on open data in her spare time.

Individuals: Raksha Muralidharan, Data Scientist, N/A

2026

MTA Bus Stops (https://data.ny.gov/Transportation/MTA-Bus-Stops/2ucp-7wg5/about_data), MTA Subway Stations (https://data.ny.gov/Transportation/MTA-Subway-Stations/39hk-dx4f/about_data), Retail Food Stores (https://data.ny.gov/Economic-Development/Retail-Food-Stores/9a8c-vfzj/about_data), Zillow Historical Rent Data (https://brightdata.com/cp/datasets/browse/gd_lfqkr8wm13ixtbd8f5?id=hl_124e8a85)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

CS4ALL Hack League - Manhattan Hackathon

Kate Nicholson, BetaNYC

2019

Surveillance in Your Everyday Life

Kevin Josephs, Queens Tech Lab

2019

NYC Open Data Week Celebration

Royce Nitta, Reboot

2019

Open Data for Quality, Affordable Housing

In this series of short talks, graduate students from the CUNY Graduate Center will share their ongoing work in tracking and defending the quantity and quality of affordable housing in NYC.

Sam O'Hana will share the results of his work creating a tenants' association webpage that refers to explains many open data sources relating to the fight for affordable housing.

Lisa Jakubczyk will share early-stage work developing a simulation-based spatial analysis of housing delivery under pressure in NYC. Leveraging AI agents built with Expected Parrot and its EDSL framework to simulate dynamic human and institutional factors, the project treats housing delivery as a system of competing constraints and explores modeling how different assumptions and capacity limits interact spatially to produce divergent housing outcomes under high-pressure conditions.

Additional speaker(s) TBC very soon.

Individuals: Sam O'Hana, Creating a Tenants' Association Webpage, CUNY Graduate Center; Lisa Jakubczyk, TBD, CUNY Graduate Center; Tahreem Ashraf, TBD, CUNY Graduate Center

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Panel Discussion

The Case for Low Traffic Neighborhoods in NYC: A Data Informed Panel Discussion

This session includes a briefing on Low Traffic Neighborhoods (LTNs) in New York City, place-making interventions that reduce motor vehicle dominance, and create safer, quieter environments where the street functions as a social space rather than just a transport corridor. A detailed technology demo that builds on NYC Open Data, will highlight key indicators of suitability for LTNs - including higher vehicle collision incidence, higher alternative transport access, higher community vulnerability - to clearly pinpoint neighhorhoods positioned to benefit from LTN interventions. Finally, a multi-disciplinary panel of policy experts, technologists, community advocates and community leaders will discuss how LTNs can make NYC more livable and safe for all residents.

Individuals: Talya Schwartz Naor, Senior Strategist, Open Plans ; David Scatterday, Managing Director, Scatterday & Associates; Catherine Vaughn, Executive Director, Abundance NY; Sara Lind, , ; Pedro Rodriguez, Community Board Member, CB6

2026

Greenstreets [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/mk9u-qu7i], 2020 Community District Tabulation Areas (CDTAs) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/xn3r-zk6y], Routes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/8yac-vygm], Parks Properties Map [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/krz2-j7bn]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Blind Date with a Dataset

Join Claudia Berger from the NYC Open Data team for this hands-on survey where data users of all types, from professionals who use data in their day-to-day work to people with a personal interest in data, can give feedback on NYC Open Data’s documentation. Through activities and small group discussions, participants will have the chance to assess a variety of documentation around a mystery dataset. The feedback gathered at this session will be used to identify gaps in the current documentation, such as the data dictionaries and dataset primer pages, as well as identify areas that could be explained better or where more guidance is needed. Participants will be able to use their experiences working with data to help shape our ongoing work of strengthening resources on Open Data.

If you have used Open Data, or data in general, before in any capacity, your thoughts are welcome!

Individuals: Claudia Berger, Open Data Analyst, Office of Data Analystics | Organizations: NYC Open Data

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Workshop

Project FloodNet x CUNY Macaulay Honors College

Please join us for a thoughtful, insightful and much needed conversation on flooding in NYC. Our Data and Society Fellows from CUNY Macaulay Honors College will be discussing their team projects on flood vulnerable communities in NYC. They will be focusing on several flood vulnerable communities and proposing advocacy tool kits. They will also present their plans to leverage NYC 311 complaint data to better understand the health impacts these neighborhoods are experiencing.

These two cohorts will provide a brief overview of their projects followed by a Q&A session led by one of the principal investigators of the FloodNet Project, Prof. Ricardo Toledo-Crow. If you're a change maker who's passionate about community and looking to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers, then join us during NYC Open Data Week!

About Project FloodNet - Project FloodNet's mission is to develop tools for real-time urban flood monitoring, implement these tools to measure flooding in New York City, and make flood data and monitoring tools available in a manner that is accessible and useful to stakeholders including residents, community-based organizations, government agencies, and researchers.

Individuals: Allen, Hillery, Macaulay Honors College; Ricardo Toledo-Crow, Toledo - Crow, CUNY ASRC; Kennedy Betances, , ; Daniel Leyzerzon, , ; Ashna Gibbons, ,

2026

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

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Exploring an Independent Perspective on Emergency Response Times

The NYC Independent Budget Office (IBO) aims to enhance understanding of New York City’s budget, public policy, and economy through independent, data-driven analysis. In this event, IBO Budget and Policy Analyst Valerie Gudino will showcase how Open Data can be used to analyze and visualize fiscal years 2014-2024 citywide ambulance response times. Valerie will walk through how emergency response and dispatch data can be leveraged to examine patterns in emergency medical response by borough and citywide. This event is ideal for anyone interested in public safety, emergency response or data visualization. Valerie will present the report findings and conclude with a Q&A session.

Individuals: Valerie Gudino, Budget and Policy Analyst , NYC Independent Budget Office (IBO) | Organizations: NYC Independent Budget Office

2026

EMS Incident Dispatch Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/76xm-jjuj]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

The Council-Agency Data Loop: Sharing, Tracking, and Improving City Data

The NYC Council Compliance Team will be hosting a session on the practical realities of transparency and the collaborative effort required to maintain public data. We will share our experiences supporting data quality and managing reporting mandates, while seeking to understand the ground-level challenges faced by agencies and data users. This session is designed for city staff, researchers, and any New Yorker interested in the mechanics of the city’s data ecosystem.

Individuals: Malcom Butehorn, Deputy Director, New York City Council, Compliance Division; Anastasia Wincorn, Assistant Deputy Director, New York City Council, Compliance Division; James Pollitt, Project Manager, New York City Council, Compliance Division; Anne Driscoll, Open Data Coordinator, New York City Council, Data Team | Organizations: New York City Council

2026

Housing Maintenance Code Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/wvxf-dwi5]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

A New Vision for MapPLUTO

Sold OUT

Lynn Seirup, DCP

2019

City of Nature, City of Data: How NYC Parks and the City Nature Challenge Document Nature in the City

As we are seeing global biodiversity declines, it is more important than ever to keep track of biodiversity, especially in our urban areas. Cities can offer varied habitats that support many different species despite being heavily impacted by humans. Through the efforts of NYC Parks and the power of participatory science during the City Nature Challenge, we can collect vital data for NYC and engage the public in connecting with nature. Those data can be found in over 50 data sets contributed by NYC Parks to NYC Open Data and on the iNaturalist database, which is an open data set that anyone can contribute nature observations to.

In this presentation, we’ll hear from Tina Cuevas, Natural Areas Outreach Coordinator at NYC Parks, who will share insights about the kinds of data NYC Parks collects for our city, and from Kelly O’Donnell, lead NYC organizer of the City Nature Challenge and Director of Science Forward at Macaulay Honors College, who will share about how New Yorkers can contribute to our understanding of the city’s biodiversity. For the past 9 years, New Yorkers have added over 150 thousand observations to NYC’s iNaturalist database during the annual City Nature Challenge. We will discuss how NYC Parks and everyday New Yorkers can contribute to both data collection efforts, how those data sets inform each other, and what these data can be used for from both a parks management and education perspective. We welcome anyone who has ever encountered one of these NYC biodiversity data sets, anyone who has ever spent a little time in the parks enjoying that biodiversity, and all those interested in learning more.

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

2026

Tree Canopy Change (2010 - 2017) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/by9k-vhck], 2015 Street Tree Census - Tree Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uvpi-gqnh], Forestry Tree Points [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/hn5i-inap]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Exploring NYC Open Data With AI (Part 2: Making charts with DataWrapper MCP)

Let’s Make a Chart with AI! In this session, we’ll use the Datawrapper MCP to turn data from the NYC Open Data portal into compelling charts and graphs. 
In Part 1, you learned how to prompt AI tools to reliably pull data from New York City’s Open Data portal using the Open Data MCP. Now, we'll transform those query results into clear, effective visualizations. Join three working journalists who will help you:
1. Identify what makes a strong, effective chart
2. Develop a clear vision for the story you want your data to tell
3. Prompt an AI tool to generate the chart you have in mind
By the end of the session, you’ll know how to go from raw public data to a polished visualization using AI.

Bring a computer/laptop and/or plan to share a device with a classmate as a pair/

Individuals: Aarushi Sahejpal, professor / data editor, American University & The Investigative Reporting Workshop; Dhrumil Mehta, professor / deputy director, Columbia University & Tow Center for Digital Journalism; Ben Welsh, News Applications Editor / founding faculty member / adjunct professor, Reuters & School of Visual Arts & Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY

2026

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

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Class / Training

What Should We Build Next? Open Data Challenges for NYC’s Future

The Cornell Urban Tech Hub, in partnership with the City of New York, launched the Urban Innovation Fellows program to help spur tech innovation in City agencies and to establish a new model for collaboration across government, academia, and startups.

The Urban Innovation Fellows will host an interactive workshop inviting participants to identify specific Open Data-related problems and projects (and the skillsets needed to accomplish them) that could be the focus of New York City and State government agencies as part of future iterations of the Fellowship and/or in collaboration with Cornell Tech. The workshop is geared towards residents from across the five boroughs as well as City staff, the civic tech community, and individuals from the private sector who are interested in government work and have great ideas and proposals for how to bring them to life. To facilitate the conversation, the Fellows will draw upon their own agency projects and observations about the need for more collaborative and innovative data approaches that support cross-agency work.

The seven Urban Innovation Fellows work directly within NYC government agencies, spanning the areas of housing (NYCHA), transportation (DOT), water (DEP), decarbonization (DCAS), sanitation (DSNY), economic development (EDC), and procurement (MOCS). They help agencies implement urban technology solutions that advance City goals, remove policy roadblocks that prevent scaling successful pilots, and guide promising tech startups through agency processes.

Individuals: Anh Nguyen, Urban Innovation Fellow, Cornell Tech; Catrina Cuadra, Urban Innovation Fellow, Cornell Tech; Noelle Francois, Urban Innovation Fellow, Cornell Tech; Stephen Albonesi, Urban Innovation Fellow, Cornell Tech; Tom Conboy, Urban Innovation Fellow, Cornell Tech | Organizations: Cornell Tech

2026

New York City Bike Routes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/mzxg-pwib], Bus Lanes - Local Streets [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/ycrg-ses3], Hydrants [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/5bgh-vtsn], Speed Reducer Tracking System (SRTS) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/9n6h-pt9g]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Workshop

Engagic: From Council Agenda to Neighborhood Input

In 2020 a group of Palo Alto residents tried to hold their city council accountable and improve information accessibility, by hand. They tracked meetings, read and summarized agendas, and organized neighbors to show up and speak. We burned out in 4 months.
Engagic is the tool that would've saved them. It's an open source platform that automatically tracks council meetings across 100+ US cities, summarizes agenda items using LLMs, and surfaces voting records and committee decisions for elected officials. The data is freely available; the code is on GitHub.
This lightning talk will demo engagic using live NYC council data: what a meeting looks like before processing (dozens of attachments, hundreds of pages) and after (plain-language summaries, topic filters, participation links). The talk will also show the deliberation feature, which lets residents provide structured feedback on legislative items and see where their neighbors stand.
Ideal for: civic technologists, journalists covering local government, librarians, anyone who's ever tried to figure out what their city council is actually voting on.
Presenter: Iban Sadowski, independent developer.

Individuals: Iban Sadowski, Founder, Engagic

2026

Legistar NYC City Council Data (https://council.nyc.gov/legislation/api/)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Houstory: Eliminating the “Zero Data Decision” in NYC Housing

Renters in NYC often sign leases without knowing the true history of their unit—facing issues like pests, lack of heat, or unresponsive landlords only after they move in. LP and Mel will demonstrate their work building Houstory, a new platform that aggregates data from NYC HPD (Housing Preservation & Development) and DOB (Department of Buildings) into a "Unit Score" and verified timeline.

Individuals: LP, Founder/President, Houstory; Mel Laskowski, Founding Engineer, Houstory

2026

Housing Maintenance Code Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/wvxf-dwi5]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Open Data for Program Design and Advocacy: Using Air Quality Data to Make School-based Interventions More Successful

How might access to specific public and private datasets help nonprofits to target their programming and advocacy work?

We'll explore this question using the work of the Clean Air for Schools Fund as one example, using the public data set of NYC's air quality and overlaying it with neighborhood-level attribute data, school performance, and private air sensors to determine where indoor air quality interventions might be maximally effective. The presentation will be led by Jordan Sucher, Senior Product Manager at Recidiviz and a public technologist who has used open and not-so-open data for creative ends; and Jessica Cole, co-Director of Clean Air for Schools and former leader of U.S. Digital Response and the Aspen Institute's Tech Policy Hub and long-time civic technologist.

A discussion will follow about how to use open data to tailor your own organization's strategy and advocacy and to build demand for other relevant datasets. Notably, NYC's open data is a powerful tool for both targeting advocacy and informing policy recommendations or other interventions, and it is often just one element of a larger research process. The currently available data is most effective when paired with other data sources, whether public, private, or self-collected.

This interactive workshop is ideal for data analysts or data scientists who work around policy advocacy, environmental and otherwise; nonprofit and policy leaders who want to level up evidence for your work; and anyone interested in identifying gaps in the NYC open data portal that prevent challenges for policy work, and ideating ways to work through or around them.

Individuals: Jessica Cole, Co-Director, Clean Air for Schools Fund; Jordan Sucher, Senior Product Manager, Recidiviz | Organizations: Clean Air for Schools

2026

Air Quality [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/c3uy-2p5r], Queens Air Quality Sensor Pilot (February - November 2024) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/2juy-aj8e]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Class / Training

Reading the Streets: What Citi Bike Data Reveals About Our Cities

Dive into publicly available Citi Bike trip data to discover where New Yorkers are traveling by bike. This talk will center around an interactive website that displays Citi Bike trips. We will discuss how it was built and ways it can be used to find insight into bike travel. See how new bike infrastructure such as the First Avenue Tunnel or expanded Queensboro bridge bike path has impacted this method of transportation.

Individuals: Patrick Cleary, Founder, PDC Design Lab

2026

New York City Bike Routes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/mzxg-pwib]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Machine-Viewing Gentrification Through Storefront Imagery in NYC

This program is an introduction to using image recognition AI in the context of urban planning or analyses of the urban environment. Images can be a rich source of information, but their use in academic or analytic studies has been limited, owing either to their size, their availability or a lack of awareness into how computers "read" them.
This session will focus on a set of storefront photography provided by a New York City-focused storefront database called Live XYZ, but any similar set of images, like from Google's Streetview for example, could be used as well.
Policy Analyst Alexander McQuilkin be presenting a project he undertook to understand gentrification in one Brooklyn neighborhood, borrowing an A/B signage classification index developed by a pair of CUNY anthropology and linguistic professors. Anyone interested in urban aesthetics and/or machine-learning should attend, and can expect to come away with new tools for analyzing images and ideas about how we can measure our urban environment. No coding experience necessary. Attendees can bring their laptops to interact with the AI tools live, or can just take notes and experiment with it later.

Individuals: Alexander McQuilkin, Senior Data & Policy Analyst, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation & Development

2026

Live XYZ (https://www.livexyz.com/)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Class / Training

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]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Exhibition

Community Data Collection Workshop with the Data Vandals

This 1-hour workshop invites participants to ditch spreadsheets and experiment with data as the raw material for provocative public art. After a brief introduction, Data Vandals will lead a fast-paced crash course on using data for public storytelling: how to turn numbers into conversations using simple visual tactics, punchy headlines, and low-fi materials like markers, tape, and paper. Participants will spend the first 10 minutes getting introduced to NYC Open Data and seeing quick examples of how numbers can be remixed into slogans, graphics, and poster-sized provocations, then use the next 50 minutes to pair up, sketch a concept, create a ‘data poster,’ share their work, and respond to live feedback from the group.
The workshop is led by Jen Ray and Jason Forrest - the Data Vandals, an art and data collective that transforms data into participatory experiences that invite curiosity and conversation. Our projects bring data visualization out of the digital world and into public space, inviting people to become active participants rather than passive observers. This session is ideal for anyone curious about using civic data in a more playful, political, or public-facing way; no technical skills or software are required.

Individuals: Jen Ray, Data Vandals, Data Vandals; Jason Forrest, Data Vandals, Data Vandals | Organizations: Data Vandals

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Workshop

Building the Vital Parks Explorer

Have you interacted with the Vital Parks Explorer? In this session, the Innovation and Performance Management (IPM) team from NYC Parks will share some highlights of how this public-facing tool was built. The Explorer visualizes access to parks amenities and services across the city. From inception, prototype, to public release, three data professionals working in local government will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how data, analysis, visualization, and user experience considerations shaped the final product. This event is for all New Yorkers who care about parks and might be of particular interest to advocates of public spaces, civic data enthusiasts, web app developers, designers, geospatial data scientists and engineers. We look forward to your participation and feedback!

Speaker bios:
Lilian Chin is a Data Analytics Specialist on the IPM Team at NYC Parks where she has worked since September 2023. As part of IPM, she supports a wide-range of data-driven initiatives for Parks' Maintenance and Operations. This includes visualizing the Work Order backlog, streamlining data pipelines for park assets, developing methodologies for the Park Condition Score, building in-house dashboards, and improving data quality and documentation.
 
Kate Sales is a Data Analytics Specialist for IPM. In the last year, she has worked on projects that touch many aspects of Parks including collecting and combining volunteer data for the Let’s Green NYC initiative, creating dashboards for Vital Parks for All, and helping others learn how to visualize data. Before Parks, Kate was a GIS analyst at the urban planning consulting firm Urban3 in Asheville, NC, her hometown. She recently completed her Master of Urban Planning at CUNY Hunter College and earned her BA in geography at Macalester College.
 
Benno Mirabelli is a Data Scientist at IPM. He works on various data analysis, reporting, research, and optimization projects. Some examples of his ongoing work include the routing analysis based on LION data for the recently released Vital Parks Explorer, research on understanding usership patterns and visitor volume at parks, and new management tools that assist with grass maintenance, planning, seasonal worker assignments and more. He holds a PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics.

Individuals: Lilian Chin, Data Analytics Specialist, NYC Parks; Kate Sales, Data Analytics Specialist, NYC Parks; Benno Mirabelli, Data Scientist, NYC Parks

2025

LION [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/2v4z-66xt], Parks Properties [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/enfh-gkve], Capital Project Tracker [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/qiwj-i2jk], Parks Inspection Program – Inspections [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/yg3y-7juh]

Virtual

Presentation

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Data for Whom: Exploring Inclusivity in NYC’s Mobility Datasets

This session is a participatory talk led by Systematica and Transform Transport on how different people experience walking in NYC, and how well those experiences are reflected in NYC Open Data. Building on UX Mobility research, we introduce a user–needs framework that spans physical accessibility, sensory clarity, cognitive ease, perceived safety, comfort, and social context, then ask a core question: which experiences become visible and actionable through open data, and which remain missing?

Participants will spend the time exploring a simple users–needs–data ontology and joining a short interactive exercise to map their own mobility needs and identify what data would be needed to represent them. We will briefly share a case study of an experience-aware routing system developed in Milan and now being prototyped in NYC, then close with takeaways on how open data could evolve through new layers, better combinations, or proxy indicators. The session is open to all backgrounds and beginners, and is especially relevant for residents, community members, students, practitioners, civic technologists, and city staff interested in walkability and inclusive mobility.

Individuals: Simone Grasso, Project Lead, Systematica; Federico Messa, NY Office Lead, Systematica US | 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 - Violations [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/6kbp-uz6m], Sidewalk Management Database - Inspection [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/dntt-gqwq], Sidewalk Management Database - Lot Info [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/i642-2fxq], Sidewalk Management Database - Built [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/ugc8-s3f6], Sidewalk Management Database - ReInspection [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/gx72-kirf], Sidewalk Management Database - All Tree Damage (ATD) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/j6v2-6uxq], DOT Street Lights and Traffic Signals (311 Service Requests from 2010 to Present) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/jwvp-gyiq]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Bike-Track: A Manhattan Citibike Custom Live Tracker PCB Board

This presentation by a group of designers and engineers maps every Citi Bike station in Manhattan to a unique RGB LED on a custom PCB Board (~650 LEDs). This board was created for a Data Visualization course at Cooper Union.

At the moment, the board has 3 main modes that can be cycled through via a companion app that we developed.
The primary view renders real-time information about every dock and station in the city. Brightness corresponds to the number of bikes (or docks available), and color represents station status (red for no bikes, blue for regular bikes, green for >25% ebikes).

The audience will participate by interacting with the app and observing the PCB board.

Individuals: David Kaplan, PCB Board Designer , Cooper Union; James Ryan, Software Engineer, Cooper Union; Vaibhav Hariani, Software Engineer, Cooper Union; Kristof Jablonowski, Layout Engineer, Cooper Union

2026

Citi Bike System Data [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/vsnr-94wk]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Building the Public Interest Tech Workforce

As governments and communities increasingly rely on data, digital services, and AI, the need for a strong public interest technology workforce has never been greater. This session explores how cities, nonprofits, educators, and community organizations can create inclusive pathways into civic tech and digital public service careers, with a focus on expanding access for people historically excluded from the tech sector. We’ll highlight the skills, partnerships, and training models needed to grow a diverse pipeline of technologists who can support effective, equitable digital government in New York.

Individuals: Jazzy Smith, Chief of Staff, BetaNYC; Meisha Porter, Senior Visiting Fellow, Center for Educational Innovation; Julie Won, Council Member Julie Won, NYC Council; Lauri Goldkind, Lauri Goldkind, Fordham University; Aankit Patel, University Dean, CUNY

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Civic Engagement for the Digital Age

Join software engineers Devin and Kris for a live demo of Civic, a mobile app that makes it easy for anyone to find and contact their elected officials at every level of government. We'll walk through the app's core features, starting with an interactive map that visualizes city council, state legislative, and congressional districts together with data on their representatives. Then we’ll showcase the "My Representatives" page which shows your local, state, and federal officials based on your location. Attendees will see how Civic pulls together district boundaries, government directories, and other open data sources to create a rich view into our government through clean mobile interface.
This session is ideal for anyone interested in civic technology, open government data, or building data-intensive mobile applications. Whether you're a developer curious about geospatial data, a policy advocate looking for tools to connect constituents with their representatives, or simply someone who wants to know who represents you, you'll walk away with something useful. Attendees are encouraged to download the app and follow along on their own devices during the presentation.

Individuals: Devin Neal, Co-founder, Civic Politics Co.; Kris Turkal, Co-founder, Civic Politics Co. | Organizations: Civic Politics

2026

City Council Members (1999 to Present) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/uvw5-9znb], City Council Districts (water areas included) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/jgqm-ccbd]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Making the Invisible Visible: Workshopping a New Open Data Standard for AI Processes

AI systems are increasingly being used to make decisions about how our public spaces work. These decision making tools are being used in New York City to prioritize housing assistance, enforce parking rules, identify individuals from video for police investigations, and many other purposes. While many cities have legislation requiring that these systems be transparent, often this is limited to posting pdfs on a public portal, with long technical descriptions hampering public understanding
In this workshop, we aim to present and get feedback from the School of Data Community on the initial draft of "DTPR for AI", a new open data standard for describing how these AI systems work that’s designed for members of the public. We will go over how it was developed, how it works, and demonstrate a few examples of how NYC algorithms can be made more accessible using DTPR. We will then run a co-design session to gather feedback on how this open-source project can be improved with the group assembled. This workshop is an opportunity to contribute to the open-source project and participate in its emerging community of users and contributors.
This workshop was made possible by support from the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Individuals: Georgia Bullen, Executive Director, Superbloom Design; Anh Le, , Superbloom Design | Organizations: Superbloom Design, Helpful Places

2026

2024 Agency Compliance Reporting of Algorithmic Tools (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/oti/downloads/pdf/reports/2024-algorithmic-tools-report.pdf)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Workshop

Simulated and Measured Environments in Design Education and Research

Once architects realize that climate change is a quantity measured in carbon, it becomes a simple design constraint just like gravity, easily mitigated by designing form and performance simultaneously. - Pr. Clarke Snell  

During this virtual event, architecture educators and a librarian provide information about building performance and simulation which calls on open data sources which students analyze to inform their design decisions. We developed educational modules introducing undergraduate students to measuring environmental conditions and relevant open data NYC projects to assess climatic challenges alongside building performance projections. We develop design thinking to improve built environments that require less energy to build and operate. Professionals are increasingly interpreting climatic conditions from original and publicly available data at all phases of design and construction. Architecture students learn to observe and interpret measured and simulated building performance, interpret local code, laws and guidelines (ie Local Law 33; 97) and measure indoor/exterior environments. These practices develop students’ sensitivity to design decisions and adaptive solutions.  
 
One education module presents a hands-on introduction to the variables that define and differentiate indoor and outdoor environments through measurements and analysis using sensors and apps. Participants measure the dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and dew point of the environment they encounter for three days, then compare the results for the same days for several other measured environments. These include the interior and exterior conditions of our library where we maintain a weather station and indoor sensor network. The weather station also broadcasts data to the National Weather Service through the Citizens Weather Observation Program (CWOP). To conclude this presentation, we will share information about tools, assessments, and conclusions from the first sessions as well as modules in development.   
 
Please join us for a practical introduction to the evolution of building performance in the architecture profession and design education. Attendees will gain access to learning objects and exercises about building performance and citizen science opportunities in your classroom. While our students are undergraduate and graduate students, we provide information on tools that can align with younger students or the public.

Individuals: Clarke Snell, Architect, Associate Professor, New York Institute of Technology; Vanessa Viola, Architecture Librarian, New York Institute of Technology; Elijah Williams, Digital Technology Specialist, New York Institute of Technology | Organizations: New York Insitute of Technology

2025

(Sustainability Compliance Maps) (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/sustainablebuildings/html/LL97-n-LL33-map.html), Original data generated by participants (https://libguides.nyit.edu/architecture/SAME), Weather Station Data (https://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/G4054)

Virtual

Presentation

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BLOCK BY BLOCK: Mapping Block Associations in NYC

Do you know if your block has an association?
Block associations are hyperlocal nodes of residents who come together to solve problems that face their block. But, most Community Boards don't maintain updated lists of where they are or how to join them. This session demonstrates how geocoding NYC's Permitted Event Information dataset (with 95% accuracy using Python) helped create an interactive mapping tool that makes it easier for Central Brooklyn residents to locate active block associations, discover upcoming block parties, and connect with community resources.
Working in partnership with the Crown Heights CARE Collective and Bed-Stuy Works Alliance, this project by community organizer Delaney Connor emerged directly from organizers' expressed need for online accessible block association information. The session will include a live demo of the interactive map at a walkthrough of the geocoding process using NYC Street Centerline data, and a discussion about how this tool is being used for real organizing work in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Bring your phone or laptop to explore the map during the session. This presentation is for community organizers, block association leaders, civic tech practitioners, NYC residents interested in block-level participation, or anyone curious about how open data can support hyper-local organizing!

Individuals: Delaney Connor, Community Organizer, Crown Heights CARE Collective | Organizations: Crown Heights CARE Collective

2026

NYC Permitted Event Information - Historical [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/bkfu-528j], NYC Permitted Event Information [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/tvpp-9vvx]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Battery Swapping Hub Spatial Analysis

New York City has over 60,000 delivery workers, more than half of whom rely on e-bikes—yet the city lacks infrastructure to support this growing mode. Building on NYC’s battery-swapping pilot program, this presentation shares a data-driven approach to sizing and siting battery-swapping cabinets in neighborhoods throughout the city using publicly available data on deliveries, restaurants, and the bike network.

In this session, Amy Boncelet of the engineering and advisory firm TYLin will demonstrate how cities can move beyond pilots to plan scalable micromobility infrastructure that reduces fire risk and supports essential delivery workers. While grounded in a New York City case study, the framework and insights are transferable to cities nationwide.

Individuals: Amy Boncelet, Data Analytics Lead, TYLin | Organizations: TYLin

2026

New York City Bike Routes [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/mzxg-pwib], DOHMH New York City Restaurant Inspection Results [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/43nn-pn8j]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Visualizing Citi Bike Data as a Strava-style Heatmap

In this lightning talk, I’ll share how I built a Strava-style heatmap using my own Citi Bike ride history.

The project started as a personal data-viz experiment: exporting my ride records, estimating likely routes between stations with the Google Maps API, and rendering them as a heatmap. I’ll briefly cover the data processing, key design choices, and what worked (and didn’t) when turning sparse trip data into something that looks and feels like a GPS-based activity map.

The full write-up and code are available here: https://yangdanny97.github.io/blog/2026/01/17/citibike-strava-heatmap

This session is for people interested in data visualization, geospatial data, or small “data about me” projects. Attendees will spend the time seeing a quick walkthrough of the approach, example visuals, and practical lessons they can reuse in their own projects.

Individuals: Danny Yang, ,

2026

Citi Bike stations (https://gbfs.citibikenyc.com/gbfs/en/station_information.json), Citi Bike System Data (https://citibikenyc.com/system-data)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

How has 10 years of civic engagement through open data changed New York?

Ten years ago, "Open Data" was a niche buzzword for enthusiasts; today, it is the nervous system of New York City’s digital infrastructure. 

This fireside chat between Open Data Week founders and government officials will examine how civic engagement, both inside and outside government, has fostered a culture of accountability in government operations and equipped civil society with the tools to demand equity.

Join us as we discuss:
- The Shift: From Compliance to Collaboration. Explore how agencies have evolved from simply publishing data to using public data as a collaborative tool for operational efficiency.
- The Advocacy Loop: Data as a Lever. We’ll discuss real-world case studies of dialogue in action and how collaborations pushed through transformative engagements to shape the future.
- Future-Proofing the Next Decade of Civic Tech. As we look at new technologies, how do we frame our existing collaborations as best practices for the future? How do we make sure that the future is better than where we started?

Individuals: Noel Hidalgo, Executive Director BetaNYC, BetaNYC; Zachary Feder, Open Data Program Manager, NYC OTI; Adrienne Schmoeker, Senior Program Officer, Bezos Earth Fund; Lisa Mae Fielder, Open Data Manager, MTA

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Building an MCP Server for AI-Driven Analysis of NYC 311 Data

This lightning talk features an MCP server that exposes NYC 311 Call Center data to AI assistants like Claude through tools, context and resources. The server offers three core tools — Retrieve (hybrid keyword/vector search, Analyze (aggregation and theme extraction) and Annotate (add record comments). The stack is Python-based using FastMCP, Supabase for storage and Google's Gemini for text embeddings.

AI & Software Engineer Nicholas Taub will demo the architecture showing how LLMs can infer and relay relevant records between tools. The server's tool descriptions and docstrings provide explicit usage instructions to the LLM - e.g. tool ordering, query parameters and workflow constraints - enabling the reasoning model to orchestrate tasks with minimal human intervention. Resources are optional supplementary context for more refined inputs.

This session is designed for analysts, engineers and enthusiasts interested in learning how MCP can enhance their LLM experience.

Individuals: Nicholas Taub, AI & Software Engineer, N/A

2026

311 Call Center Inquiry [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/wewp-mm3p]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

Measuring Poverty Using Census Bureau Data

Join Census Bureau data dissemination specialists Joli Golden and Monica Dukes to learn about the datasets that the Census uses to measure poverty, how the Census defines poverty measures, and the numerous data tools you can access to explore poverty by geographic area and demographic group. You will see how to access the most recent poverty briefs and reports and poverty data tables. We will also introduce SAIPE, a tool for Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates.

Individuals: Joli Golden, Data Dissemination Specialist, U.S. Census Bureau; Monica Dukes, Data Dissemination Specialist, U.S. Census Bureau | Organizations: U.S. Census Bureau

2026

American Community Survey (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/data.html), Current Population Survey (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/data.html), Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/saipe/data.html)

Virtual

Presentation

{"url":"https://youtu.be/M25R9P56bd4","description":"https://youtu.be/M25R9P56bd4"}

Bus Automated Camera Enforcement: What It is, How It Works, and Findings from the Data

The 2023 NYS Legislature passed a provision in the budget to expand Automated Camera Enforcement, or ACE. The ACE program is a bus-mounted camera system that issues violations to vehicles occupying bus lanes, to double parked vehicles along bus routes, and to vehicles blocking bus stops. The program is administered in partnership between the MTA, the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) and the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT).

The goal of ACE is to make bus service faster and more reliable by keeping bus lanes and bus stops clear. Join Data Science Specialist Rahnuma Tarannum and Bus Technology Analyst Aanchal Hingorani to learn the details about how this program operates and how the open data shows that the program is working!

Individuals: Rahnuma Tarannum, Data Science Specialist, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Aanchal Hingorani, Analyst, Bus Technology, Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Antony Mai, Computer Associate, Bus Technology, Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Organizations: Metropolitan Transportation Authority

2026

MTA Bus Automated Camera Enforcement Violations: Beginning October 2019 (https://data.ny.gov/Transportation/MTA-Bus-Automated-Camera-Enforcement-Violations-Be/kh8p-hcbm/about_data), MTA Bus Automated Camera Enforced Routes: Beginning October 2019 (https://data.ny.gov/Transportation/MTA-Bus-Automated-Camera-Enforced-Routes-Beginning/ki2b-sg5y/about_data)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

NYC Community Boards Dashboard

The NYC Community Boards Dashboard (community-boards.nyc) is an interactive tool designed by BetaNYC Associate Board member Tina Zeng to support transparency, analyses, and comparative evaluation of Community Boards (CB). It uses CB digital records, Demographic Reports, District Needs Assessment to provide an overview of how community boards reflect and respond to their neighborhoods. The dashboard aims to measure civic participation, discourse quality, responsiveness, and accessibility in order to empower residents, advocates, researchers, and policymakers to explore patterns over time and gain insight into equity, engagement, and local decision-making. 
The session will begin with a walkthrough of the dashboard, then present the development and analysis processes, including methodological and ethical considerations. Followed by a Q&A and feedback session, inviting participants to critically engage with the tool, and explore how similar approaches could be applied to other local institutions (this project was inspired by previous work out of School of Data like citymeetings.nyc).
Join if you’re also curious about building with AI from scratch—using natural language processing, large language models, and vibe-coding!!

Individuals: Tina Zeng, Associate Board Member, BetaNYC

2026

Community District Needs Statements (PDFs) from NYC Planning (https://github.com/NYCPlanning/labs-cd-needs-statements)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Lightning Talk

A Better Billion: The Math, the Map, and the Methods for Expanding Transit and Housing Affordability in New York City

How can $1 billion reshape New York City’s future? At a time when affordability dominates public debate, how that money is spent matters. Instead of funding short-term fixes, what if $1 billion were invested in long-term solutions: expanding subway access and unlocking housing growth across the city?

Join us for a presentation of “A Better Billion: Expanding Transit and Housing for a More Affordable New York,” a new planning and vision report from the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management’s Transportation and Land Use Group. The report outlines a data-driven strategy to plan for subway expansion while leveraging the City of Yes zoning amendments to support housing production near transit expansion.

Franklin Tang, lead author of the report, will walk through the core methodologies, cost assumptions, housing capacity estimates and mapping techniques behind the proposal. He will also discuss how the team translated technical analysis into a compelling visual and narrative product designed to inform public debate.

Individuals: Franklin Tang, Assistant Research Scholar, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management | Organizations: NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, Transit Costs Project

2026

Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output - Map (MapPLUTO) [https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/f888-ni5f]

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Empowering local communities through environmental justice data

In this session, developers of the Environmental Justice NYC report and online mapping tool will present their process of data gathering, organization, and visualization to empower New Yorkers with information necessary to advocate for and make more decisions about environmental justice in the city. We will also hear from community organizations about their work using such data to support their work developing advocacy tools such as community needs assessments. Come to learn more about data democratization and how it could apply to your local community.

Individuals: Zoe Voss Lee, , ; David Bigio, District Manager, Brooklyn Community Board 4; Celestina Leon, Director of Urban Analytics, WXY Architecture & Urban Design; Mario Giampieri, ,

2026

NYC School of Data Conference Session

What Communities Are Asking For: Student Insights from The People's Money Data

On March 27, 2026, 45+ undergraduate and graduate students from New York Institute of Technology will participate in the Whole Health Community Datathon — a civic data event organized in partnership with the NYC Civic Engagement Commission. Working in interdisciplinary teams, students analyzed over 9,000 community-submitted ideas from NYC's participatory budgeting initiative, The People's Money, through the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) framework.

At this School of Data session, those same students will present the two deliverables they produced at the datathon: Data Policy Briefs and Community Insight Visualizations, which incorporate the often intersecting SDOH domains (Economic Stability, Education Access, Healthcare Access, Neighborhood & Built Environment, and Social & Community Context). Students will also walk through their ML-assisted methodology and openly acknowledge its limitations, modeling responsible data practice for a public audience.

This session is ideal for civic technologists, open data practitioners, educators, community advocates, and anyone interested in participatory research, health equity, or ethical approaches to public data.

Organizations: New York Institute of Technology, NYC Civic Engagement Commission

2026

People's Money Y1 (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-aO1l_scIMXT75fFB5RdsmqQQQooCaFKvbZWEydd_Vs/edit?usp=sharing), People's Money Y2 (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bUeSOOXRN0FO2sihtgGAnjS4928yl1Z_29nDVuKkpuY/edit?usp=sharing), People's Money Y3 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/14WdebcQQFNAPAsdOOmIiuUalH-7X6Lhr/view?usp=sharing)

NYC School of Data Conference Session

Presentation

Introduction to Open Data Sources and Tools

This workshop will introduce several Open Data sources, with a focus on New York City-specific sources. Attendees will learn how and why cities like New York publish Open Data - and how to use Open Data to gather new insights about how our city functions. Tools such as Microsoft Excel and Carto will be introduced, so attendees can learn how to conduct their own analyses of Open Data sources.

John DeLooper, Lehman College

2019