The current data files are offered in static, compressed formats. This means that to use them, they have to be downloaded and decompressed before being integrated into an application. This limits a number of possibilities for web and mobile application development, and means that apps will not necessarily maintain up to date information as the static data files go stale (even if the City updates them in the Catalog).

For static files, please make available formats that can be externally referenced (along with fixed, permanent, URLs).

For data that may change over time, or be added to, or such, please provide dynamic APIs that can be programmatically linked to. Ideally, this would include sub-set searching and sorting abilities (especially once larger data sets start to be dealt with).

I’d be happy to discuss this in detail if you have any questions or want further clarifications.

Twitter: @grant