New York City has become the first city in the U.S. to obtain initial approval for its own domain name.
The city’s application for the creation of a .nyc domain name has been approved by the non-profit organization the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This is part of the upcoming roll-out of generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) that will expand the internet name space exponentially.
The .nyc domain is considered a geographic TLD (or geo-TLD), and it is not the only city to have applied for one.
London and Paris have already passed through ICANN’s initial evaluations and many other cities in various countries across the globe will soon receive the same treatment.
Previously, country-specific domains have been in place, but new gTLDs allow for a much more specific digital space. There are existing country-specific domains that have been re-positioned and marketed as city-specific such as the extension for Laos which is marketed as a .LA for Los Angeles. However, .NYC will be created solely with the purpose of serving New York City’s online digital landscape.
A new website has been set up to guide interested residents and businesses through the application process. New York City’s mayor Michael Bloomberg said the acquired domain name puts the city “at the forefront of the digital landscape”. Council speaker Christine C. Quinn commented: “With a new TLD name, New York won’t just be the greatest city in the world – we’ll also be the greatest city on the internet.”
The new city-based domains are expected to roll out in phases from early 2014 onwards.