diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 744836b..4a410bc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ GeoPandas objects also know how to plot themselves.  GeoPandas uses [descartes](
 
     >>> g.plot()
 
-GeoPandas also implements alternate constructors that can read any data format recognized by [fiona](http://toblerity.github.io/fiona).  To read a [file containing the boroughs of New York City](http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/download/bytes/nybb_14aav.zip):
+GeoPandas also implements alternate constructors that can read any data format recognized by [fiona](http://toblerity.github.io/fiona).  To read a [file containing the boroughs of New York City](http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/zip/data-maps/open-data/nybb_16a.zip):
 
     >>> boros = GeoDataFrame.from_file('nybb.shp')
     >>> boros.set_index('BoroCode', inplace=True)
diff --git a/examples/nyc_boros.py b/examples/nyc_boros.py
index 6db6ec5..3e70210 100644
--- a/examples/nyc_boros.py
+++ b/examples/nyc_boros.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from geopandas import GeoSeries, GeoDataFrame
 np.random.seed(1)
 DPI = 100
 
-# http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/download/bytes/nybb_14aav.zip
+# http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/zip/data-maps/open-data/nybb_16a.zip
 boros = GeoDataFrame.from_file('nybb.shp')
 boros.set_index('BoroCode', inplace=True)
 boros.sort()
diff --git a/tests/test_geodataframe.py b/tests/test_geodataframe.py
index ea4a59e..9bc1bf7 100644
--- a/tests/test_geodataframe.py
+++ b/tests/test_geodataframe.py
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ class TestDataFrame(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         N = 10
 
-        nybb_filename = download_nybb()
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = download_nybb()
 
-        self.df = read_file('/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp', vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
-        with fiona.open('/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp', vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename) as f:
+        self.df = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
+        with fiona.open(nybb_zip_path, vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename) as f:
             self.schema = f.schema
         self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
         self.boros = self.df['BoroName']
@@ -373,8 +373,8 @@ class TestDataFrame(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertTrue(all(df2['geometry'].geom_almost_equals(utm['geometry'], decimal=2)))
 
     def test_from_features(self):
-        nybb_filename = download_nybb()
-        with fiona.open('/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp',
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = download_nybb()
+        with fiona.open(nybb_zip_path,
                         vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename) as f:
             features = list(f)
             crs = f.crs
diff --git a/tests/test_io.py b/tests/test_io.py
index ec04bd7..3e838aa 100644
--- a/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/tests/test_io.py
@@ -9,11 +9,10 @@ from .util import PANDAS_NEW_SQL_API, unittest
 
 class TestIO(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
-        nybb_filename = tests.util.download_nybb()
-        path = '/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp'
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = tests.util.download_nybb()
         vfs = 'zip://' + nybb_filename
-        self.df = read_file(path, vfs=vfs)
-        with fiona.open(path, vfs=vfs) as f:
+        self.df = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs=vfs)
+        with fiona.open(nybb_zip_path, vfs=vfs) as f:
             self.crs = f.crs
 
     def test_read_postgis_default(self):
diff --git a/tests/test_overlay.py b/tests/test_overlay.py
index 4d0961f..2ac7c1c 100644
--- a/tests/test_overlay.py
+++ b/tests/test_overlay.py
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ class TestDataFrame(unittest.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):
         N = 10
 
-        nybb_filename = download_nybb()
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = download_nybb()
 
-        self.polydf = read_file('/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp', vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
+        self.polydf = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
         self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
         self.crs = {'init': 'epsg:4326'}
         b = [int(x) for x in self.polydf.total_bounds]
diff --git a/tests/test_sindex.py b/tests/test_sindex.py
index 3ed3201..8a91865 100644
--- a/tests/test_sindex.py
+++ b/tests/test_sindex.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from shapely.geometry import (Polygon, Point, LineString,
                               MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon)
 from shapely.geometry.base import BaseGeometry
 from geopandas import GeoSeries, GeoDataFrame, base, read_file
-from .util import unittest, geom_equals, geom_almost_equals
+from .util import unittest, geom_equals, geom_almost_equals, download_nybb
 
 
 @unittest.skipIf(not base.HAS_SINDEX, 'Rtree absent, skipping')
@@ -85,9 +85,8 @@ class TestFrameSindex(unittest.TestCase):
 class TestJoinSindex(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
-        self.boros = read_file(
-                    "/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp",
-                    vfs="zip://examples/nybb_14aav.zip")
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = download_nybb()
+        self.boros = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
 
     def test_merge_geo(self):
         # First check that we gets hits from the boros frame.
diff --git a/tests/test_sjoin.py b/tests/test_sjoin.py
index c7a8d71..63bd685 100644
--- a/tests/test_sjoin.py
+++ b/tests/test_sjoin.py
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ from geopandas.tools import sjoin
 class TestSpatialJoin(unittest.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
-        nybb_filename = download_nybb()
-        self.polydf = read_file('/nybb_14a_av/nybb.shp', vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
+        nybb_filename, nybb_zip_path = download_nybb()
+        self.polydf = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs='zip://' + nybb_filename)
         self.tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
         self.crs = {'init': 'epsg:4326'}
         N = 20
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class TestSpatialJoin(unittest.TestCase):
         # points within polygons
         df = sjoin(self.pointdf, self.polydf, how="left", op="within")
         self.assertEquals(df.shape, (21,8))
-        self.assertAlmostEquals(df.ix[1]['Shape_Leng'], 330454.175933)
+        self.assertEquals(df.ix[1]['BoroName'], 'Staten Island')
 
         # points contain polygons? never happens so we should have nulls
         df = sjoin(self.pointdf, self.polydf, how="left", op="contains")
diff --git a/tests/util.py b/tests/util.py
index b619a1f..b118c9f 100644
--- a/tests/util.py
+++ b/tests/util.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import io
 import os.path
+import zipfile
 from six.moves.urllib.request import urlopen
 
 from geopandas import GeoDataFrame, GeoSeries
@@ -36,16 +37,26 @@ else:
 
 
 def download_nybb():
-    """ Returns the path to the NYC boroughs file. Downloads if necessary. """
+    """ Returns the path to the NYC boroughs file. Downloads if necessary.
+    
+    returns tuple (zip file name, shapefile's name and path within zip file)"""
     # Data from http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/download/bytes/nybb_14aav.zip
     # saved as geopandas/examples/nybb_14aav.zip.
-    filename = 'nybb_14aav.zip'
+    filename = 'nybb_16a.zip'
     full_path_name = os.path.join('examples', filename)
     if not os.path.exists(full_path_name):
         with io.open(full_path_name, 'wb') as f:
-            response = urlopen('http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/download/bytes/{0}'.format(filename))
+            response = urlopen('http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/zip/data-maps/open-data/{0}'.format(filename))
             f.write(response.read())
-    return full_path_name
+    
+    shp_zip_path = None
+    zf = zipfile.ZipFile(full_path_name, 'r')
+    # finds path name in zip file
+    for zip_filename_path in zf.namelist():
+        if zip_filename_path.endswith('nybb.shp'):
+            break
+            
+    return full_path_name, ('/' + zip_filename_path)
 
 
 def validate_boro_df(test, df):