with kindness and respect, i would say that defining reality is confusing and ambiguous (and contentious) so expect this issue to persist! ❤️ and sorry for not being more helpful. Look for data dictionaries, read metadata, and reach out to data authors.

@lizbarry thank you. I was looking around to see if I could do something on open data interoperability for my thesis but I dont even know where to begin.

I agree with Liz's recommendation. While the following post might be a bit off topic, you might find the following explanation of how I do some types of open data work helpful --> http://devinbalkind.com/2016/01/29/creating-a-shared-data-model-with-a-spreadsheet/

@reshma
there are some evolving standards
around something called "Data Packages": http://frictionlessdata.io/data-packages/

there are lots of interesting convos happening in the associated github issue queue, so i would definitely recommend subscribing to it with GitHub's "Watch" feature!
https://github.com/frictionlessdata/specs/issues

here is a sample of one way to use the datapackage standard: https://github.com/t0ronto-ca/dataset-toronto-elected-officials

tools and processes that make it easier for cities to adopt these standards would probably help the situation