NYC Planning Department Launches New In-House Digital Services Unit

"A New NYC Planning Department unit called NYC Planning Labs launched Monday," reports Cassandra Stephenson. "The tech services unit, headed by mapper and open-source web developer Chris Whong, aims to provide tools to combat urban planning issues and increase efficiency by building digital services in-house."

"The labs will create small projects for the agency’s internal divisions that can be rolled out in just four to six weeks, according to the blog," adds Stephenson Projects could include simple purpose-built data tools designed to work with routine planning workflows, interactive data visualizations and animations, and web map explorers in the vein of NYC Facilities Explorer.

The new NYC Planning Labs was announced by a blog post that follows a frequently asked questions format. The blog also has a second post online, explaining how it cloned the website of 18F, an open-source government digital consultancy within the General Services Administration, "to get planninglabs.nyc up and running in a matter of hours."