NYC Transportation GIS Shapefiles

New York City offers extensive transportation GIS data through multiple sources, providing researchers, planners, and developers with comprehensive spatial datasets for analysis and mapping. This guide covers the primary sources and datasets available for NYC transportation infrastructure.

Primary Data Sources

NYC Open Data Portal

The city’s official open data platform hosts numerous transportation-related shapefiles:

Key Transportation Datasets:

• Subway Lines: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Subway-Lines/3qz8-muuu/data
• Digital City Map (Shapefile): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/City-Government/Digital-City-Map-Shapefile/m2vu-mgzw – Contains official street lines and city map features
• Transportation Sites: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Transportation-Sites/hg3c-2jsy
• Main Portal: https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/

Baruch College GIS Lab

One of the most comprehensive and user-friendly sources for NYC transit data:

• NYC Mass Transit Spatial Layers: https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/confluence/display/geoportal/NYC+Mass+Transit+Spatial+Layers
• Archive of Historical Data: https://www.baruch.cuny.edu/confluence/display/geoportal/NYC+Mass+Transit+Spatial+Layers+Archive

The Baruch datasets include bus, rail, and subway routes and stops in shapefile format, projected in NAD 83 NY State Plane Long Island (feet). These are specifically designed for public access with comprehensive documentation.

NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)

• Data Feeds: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/datafeeds.shtml

Provides traffic counts, parking regulations, pedestrian volumes, and WalkNYC wayfinding system data.

State and Regional Sources

New York State GIS Clearinghouse

• NYS GIS Data Portal: https://data.gis.ny.gov/

Offers statewide transportation datasets including roads, bridges, and transit infrastructure.

NY State Department of Transportation

• Roadway Inventory System: https://www.dot.ny.gov/gisapps/roadway-inventory-system-viewer

Coordinates highway, bridge, railroad, mass transit, port, waterway, and aviation facility data.

New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC)

• GIS Resources: https://www.nymtc.org/en-us/Data-and-Modeling/Transportation-Data-and-Statistics/Geographic-Information-Systems-GIS

Academic and Research Resources

Columbia University

• NYC GIS Guide: https://guides.library.columbia.edu/GIS/NYC

University at Buffalo

• NY Local GIS Data: https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/gis-courses/ny-data

Syracuse University

• NY State GIS Resources: https://researchguides.library.syr.edu/c.php?g=258118&p=1725989

Specialized Transportation Data

MTA Subway Data

• Spatiality Blog: https://sromalewski.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/mta-gis-data-update/ – Independent analysis and GIS datasets based on MTA GTFS data

NYC Parks Transportation

• Parks Open Data: https://www.nycgovparks.org/about/data – Includes park access routes and pathways

Data Characteristics and Usage

Coordinate Systems:

• Most NYC datasets use NAD 83 NY State Plane coordinate system
• Baruch College data specifically uses NAD 83 NY State Plane Long Island (feet)

File Formats:

• Shapefiles (.shp) are the primary format
• Some datasets available in additional formats (GeoJSON, KML)

Update Frequency:

• NYC Open Data: Regular updates, varies by dataset
• Baruch College: Annual updates with archived versions available
• DOT Data Feeds: Real-time to monthly updates depending on dataset type

Best Practices for Data Use

1. Check metadata for projection information and data vintage
2. Review licensing terms especially for derived MTA datasets
3. Consider data vintage when combining datasets from different sources
4. Validate projections when combining data from multiple sources
5. Check for borough-specific considerations in older datasets

Getting Started

For most transportation analysis projects, start with:

1. NYC Open Data for official city infrastructure
2. Baruch College GIS Lab for comprehensive transit networks
3. NYC DOT Data Feeds for operational data and traffic information

These sources provide the foundation for most NYC transportation GIS analysis needs, with well-documented, readily-usable datasets that are regularly updated and freely available to the public.