How do you measure noise? Aside from, like, “That’s so quiet I can’t hear it,” or, “That’s so loud it hurts”? It’s not so easy a thing to do with data.
But that’s exactly what Bushwick’s mapping maestroes, CartoDB, tried to do with their new and thrillingly titled Mapping last year’s 311 noise complaints.
“[Noise] cannot be realistically measured everywhere by sensors,” the project reads. “So we have to rely on subjective data such as 311 complaint calls to try to understand what are noise-related complaints in NYC and how they can be resolved.”
Some cool facts from the data:
- The noisiest corridors in Brooklyn are down in Sunset Park and on Atlantic Avenue.
- Ice cream trucks are driving people in Gowanus nuts.
- Noise complaints are higher in the winter than in the summer.
- Only a fraction of noise complaints are from construction, most are from loud music.
