See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

On July 25, data fans rejoiced when New York City government opened up a gigantic amount geo-spatial data to the public. The dataset, PLUTO, is “a real-world version of Sim City” based on tax lot data (it sounds less interesting than it is). Now, maps based on PLUTO are hitting the web — and these are some of the coolest.

Up until two weeks ago, PLUTO represented the last big chunk of data that city officials had yet to make public. Not only was the data concealed behind a pricey $US1,500 pay wall, but city law made it illegal to put maps based on the information online. That meant that valuable block-by-block data on building height, year and more remained cloistered away from the hordes of eager data whizzes.

One of those whizzes — developer and cartographer Andrew Hill — was among the first to mine PLUTO for insight when the city finally liberated it. Over on his website, he’s created a handy little slideshow of his findings so far. Hill has allowed us to republish some of the highlights below.

Here’s the neighbourhoods in Brooklyn that have access to the least amount of public space:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

And a volumetric map of Midtwon Manhattan, based on floor numbers:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

A chronological map of construction shows where 19th century New York boomed:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

And how the 1910s and 20s saw wild growth:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

Meanwhile, the NYC of the Depression and WWII saw a slight slow-down:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

With many large public and private projects emerging after the War:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

Battery Park City, on the lower west edge of the map, added acres to the city’s size:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

While the new World Trade Center site is visible here:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

Developers on Central Park East are eager to protect their views:

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

The tallest walk-up seems to be a 16-storey building on the Upper East Side (“Uhm, I doubt it,” says Hill):

See NYC From A New Angle With These Awesomely Nerdy Maps

Check out the full slideshow here.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.