İBB Open Data (Istanbul) API

Free Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality open data API with no key: 550+ city datasets on transport, water and urban services under İBB's own open licence. Live example included.

No API key requiredHTTPSFree tier

Endpoint tested and returned HTTP 200 on 2026-08-21

What is the İBB Open Data (Istanbul) API?

data.ibb.gov.tr is the open data portal of the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), exposing a free, key-free CKAN API. It carries over 550 datasets covering transport, water, waste, health and municipal decision-making for a city of roughly 16 million people, released under İBB's own open data licence.

Very few cities of Istanbul's size publish a machine-readable catalogue at all, which makes this one worth knowing about even though 552 datasets sounds modest next to a national portal. The subject matter is operational rather than statistical: transport investment decisions, UKOME traffic coordination rulings, water reservoir levels, waste collection and municipal council outputs. Department names come through in English (`Department of Transportation`) while titles and descriptions are Turkish, so the records are half-translated in a way that actually helps navigation.

The licence is bespoke. Every record carries `license_id: "ibb-license"` pointing at İBB's own terms rather than a Creative Commons identifier, and `isopen` is `false` because CKAN does not recognise it as an Open Definition licence. That does not mean the data is closed — read the licence at the URL supplied — but it does mean automated licence filters will silently exclude this portal unless you special-case it. CORS is also off, so call it server-side.

Quick facts

Base URL: https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action
Authentication: No API key for reads. Publishing is internal to İBB departments.
Rate limit: No published limit. The catalogue is small enough to mirror in full and cache.
Pricing: Free under the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality Open Data Licence. Read the terms at the `license_url` on each record.
CORS: Not enabled — call it from your server
Official docs: Read the docs

How to use the İBB Open Data (Istanbul) API

Every request below was executed against the live API on 2026-08-21, and the response shown is the real body it returned — not an illustration.

1. Search Istanbul city datasets

GET https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1

curl

curl 'https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1'

JavaScript (fetch)

const res = await fetch("https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1");
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${res.status}`);
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

Python (requests)

import requests

res = requests.get("https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action/package_search?rows=1", timeout=20)
res.raise_for_status()
print(res.json())

Response — HTTP 200 (truncated)

{
  "help": "https://data.ibb.gov.tr/api/3/action/help_show?name=package_search",
  "success": true,
  "result": {
    "count": 552,
    "facets": {},
    "results": [
      {
        "author": "Department of Transportation",
        "author_email": "",
        "creator_user_id": "2c2de640-4f57-468e-ad8e-e891e1e9942f",
        "id": "678fa10d-9cea-4b18-8612-9076c159c775",
        "isopen": false,
        "license_id": "ibb-license",
        "license_title": "Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Open Data License",
        "license_url": "https://data.ibb.gov.tr/license",
        "maintainer": "Department of Transportation",
        "maintainer_email": "",
        "metadata_created": "2026-08-20T10:59:23.478408",
        "metadata_modified": "2026-08-20T12:06:18.646709",
        "name": "ulasima-yonelik-alinan-karar-turu-ve-sayilari",
        "notes": "2012 yılı itibarıyla, ulaşım çalışmaları kapsamında alınan Ulaşım yatırımları İBB Meclis Kararları, Plan Değişikliği Komisyonu (PDK) Kararları, Ulaşım Koordinasyon Merkezi (UKOME) Kararları ve Ulaştırma ve Ulaşım ve Trafik Düzenleme Komisyonu (UTK) Kararları sayısını (adet) içermektedir.",
        "num_resources": 1,
        "num_tags": 2,
        "organization": {
          "id": "31852024-a74f-4a9f-9eba-530aeda26d5c",
          "name": "ulasim-daire-baskanligi",
          "title": "Ulaşım Dairesi Başkanlığı",
          "type": "organization",
          "description": "",
          "image_url": "2022-04-04-074040.0837477660eceb-7c95-4790-9369-e78e6559bf37.JPG",
          "created": "2020-01-10T10:18:11.876715",
          "is_or

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`q`	query	Optional	Free-text Solr query. Turkish terms match titles and notes; English matches department names. `ulaşım`
`rows`	query	Optional	Datasets per page. Defaults to 20. `1`
`start`	query	Optional	Pagination offset. `0`
`fq`	query	Optional	Filter query, typically by the publishing İBB department. `organization:ulasim-daire-baskanligi`
`sort`	query	Optional	Sort order such as newest first. `metadata_modified desc`

Response fields

successboolean: CKAN's success flag, independent of the HTTP status.
result.countinteger: Total matching datasets — 552 unfiltered at the time of testing.
results[].author / maintainerstring: İBB department in English, for example `Department of Transportation`.
results[].title / notesstring: Turkish. Descriptions are detailed and frequently explain the counting methodology.
results[].license_idstring: Always `ibb-license` — İBB's own terms, not a Creative Commons identifier.
results[].license_urlstring: Link to the İBB licence text. Read it before commercial reuse.
results[].isopenboolean: `false`, because CKAN does not recognise the İBB licence. This is a metadata artefact, not a restriction.
results[].num_resourcesinteger: Attached files, usually a single CSV or XLSX per record.

What you can build with the İBB Open Data (Istanbul) API

Chart Istanbul transport and traffic decisions over time
Track reservoir and water supply figures for the city
Build a Turkish-language city data explorer
Compare municipal service metrics across İBB departments

Common errors and how to fix them

CORS error in the browser

data.ibb.gov.tr sends no Access-Control-Allow-Origin header.

Fix: Fetch it server-side and forward the result to your front end.

Licence filter excludes every record

`isopen` is false because `ibb-license` is not an Open Definition identifier.

Fix: Special-case `ibb-license` in your filter and read the terms at `license_url`.

HTTP 200 with success false

CKAN rejected the parameters.

Fix: Read `error.message` in the body.

Empty results

Query terms were English while titles are Turkish.

Fix: Search Turkish vocabulary, or query the English department names in `author`.

İBB Open Data (Istanbul) API — frequently asked questions

Is the Istanbul open data API free?

Yes, reads need no key or registration. Reuse is governed by the İBB Open Data Licence linked from every record.

How much data does İBB publish?

552 datasets at the time of testing — small next to a national catalogue, but unusually operational, covering transport decisions, water, waste and municipal services for a city of about 16 million.

Why does every record say isopen: false?

Because CKAN only sets that flag for licences on the Open Definition list, and İBB uses its own. The data is published openly; the flag is a metadata limitation, so read `license_url` rather than trusting the boolean.

Is the metadata available in English?

Partly. Department names in `author` and `maintainer` are English, but titles and descriptions are Turkish. Search in Turkish and translate for display.

Tools that pair with this API

CSV to JSON Converter

Convert CSV to a JSON array of objects online. Header-row detection, comma/semicolon/tab delimiters and pretty-printed output — 100% in your browser.

CSV Viewer & Table

View CSV as a clean HTML table online. Live search filter, row and column counts, delimiter and header options — all processed locally in your browser.

JSON to CSV Converter

Convert a JSON array of objects to CSV online. Automatic column headers from the union of all keys, delimiter choice and proper quoting — all in-browser.

İBB Open Data (Istanbul) is an independent third-party service and is not affiliated with ByteTools or ByteVancer. Details on this page were verified on 2026-08-21; always check the official documentation before relying on this API in production, as terms and limits can change.