Rice University Reference API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: Rice Kinder Institute Urban Data Platform Reference API
  version: '2026-09-01'
  summary: Public read API behind the Kinder Institute Urban Data Platform dataset catalog.
  description: 'The Urban Data Platform (UDP) is operated by the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at

    Rice University. It is the only institution-operated, publicly callable JSON API found on

    Rice''s public surface: an AWS API Gateway fronting Lambda handlers that serve the

    platform''s dataset catalog to the Vue single-page application at https://www.kinderudp.org/.


    THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT PUBLISHED BY RICE UNIVERSITY. Rice publishes no OpenAPI, no

    developer portal and no written reference for this API. Every path, parameter, response

    shape and status code below was recorded from live unauthenticated probes on 2026-09-01

    and is described exactly as observed, including the defects. Where behaviour is wrong

    (see /datasets/{datasetId} 200-on-error) it is documented as wrong, not corrected.


    Operator attribution: institution. The host is AWS infrastructure rather than a

    rice.edu name, so a hostname-only verdict cannot see this. It is Rice''s own engineering

    on three independent signals — (1) the API''s own `suggestedCitation` field names

    "Rice University-Kinder Institute: UDP" as the publisher, (2) Rice''s Kinder Institute

    endorses and links the platform from its own domain at

    https://kinder.rice.edu/initiative/urban-data-platform, and (3) datasets carry DOIs under

    prefix 10.25612, a DataCite prefix registered to DataCite client RICE.KINDER

    ("Kinder Institute Urban Data Platform") under DataCite member `rice`

    ("Fondren Library, Rice University", ROR https://ror.org/008zs3103).'
  contact:
    name: Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University
    url: https://kinder.rice.edu/initiative/urban-data-platform
  x-operator: institution
  x-provenance:
    generated: '2026-09-01'
    method: probed
    source: Live unauthenticated HTTP probes of https://lg4tooqkr1.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/prod/ on 2026-09-01, plus the production base URL literal read from the platform's own JavaScript bundle at https://www.kinderudp.org/js/app.9647dfb4.js. No credentials were used and no access control was defeated; every endpoint described here answers an anonymous GET.
servers:
- url: https://lg4tooqkr1.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/prod
  description: Production API Gateway stage, read from the platform's own app bundle.
- url: https://5l498ma30i.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/dev
  description: Development stage, also named in the app bundle. Present for completeness; not probed and not intended for consumers.
  x-status: non-production
security: []
tags:
- name: Reference
  description: Controlled vocabularies the catalog's fields draw from.
paths:
  /lookups:
    get:
      operationId: getLookups
      tags:
      - Reference
      summary: Retrieve every controlled vocabulary the catalog uses
      description: Returns 27 named enumerations in one object, including `dataciteRelationType` (the 27 DataCite RelationType terms), `iso19115TopicCategory` (the 19 ISO 19115 topic categories) and `regulatoryLaws` (FERPA, FISMA, HIPAA, HUD, None). See vocabulary/rice-kinder-udp-vocabulary.yml.
      security: []
      responses:
        '200':
          description: The vocabulary bundle (5,339 bytes on 2026-09-01).
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                additionalProperties:
                  type: array
                  items:
                    type: string
              examples:
                lookups:
                  externalValue: ../examples/rice-kinder-udp-lookups-example.json
components:
  securitySchemes:
    memberSession:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      description: Undocumented. Inferred only from the API Gateway authorizer's 401 envelope on /user/catalog. Not verified — no credentials were obtained or used.