Here is a look at what Amazon obtained, and how the company did it.

What did Amazon ask for?

In September 2017, Amazon put out an eight-page request for proposals from cities and states. The first round of responses from 238 locations included glossy marketing pitches, with slick graphics and broad proposals for why Amazon should come to their regions. New York’s first proposal included a rendering of a building with Amazon’s logo shining in the skyline.

After Amazon announced its shortlist in January, it gave cities a 29-page request for information that required far more precision and was more about practicalities than flash. It asked cities to respond by early March with a huge text document punctuated only with a few maps.

What information did New York initially provide?

In its first proposal, New York offered to use eminent domain to help Amazon get necessary land, and highlighted four city neighborhoods for a new Amazon headquarters, including in the World Trade Center complex and the redeveloped Farley Post Office in Midtown West. Amazon ended up selecting Long Island City and there are no plans to use eminent domain.

The main criteria Amazon laid out in the initial request, like airport connectivity and education levels, were relatively easy to come by, Mr. Parilla said. He could pull it together in a matter of a few hours on his own.

The unique information in the first round of submissions was the details on available real estate sites and incentive programs, said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto.

What new information was in the second proposal?

New York’s second response included doze ns of pages of de tailed information on outcomes from the city’s educational institutions that, the document says, is not all publicly available. “Some of this info only exists within organizations,” Mr. Parilla said. “It would be hard to coordinate all of that gathering.”

Amazon asked for detailed information on the availability of machine-learning specialists, user-experience designers and hardware engineers — three jobs critical to its growth. The proposal says that New York University awarded 64 undergraduate and 63 graduate degrees in integrated digital media, which includes design, in the past three years. Amazon also learned that Columbia University has outreach programs for STEM programs for K-12 schools in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan that reached 3,682 students last year, and that Columbia planned to expand the offering.