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Open Data Tells NYC Residents Where the Rats Are
itwbennett writes "The New York City Health Department's Rat Information Portal provides raw data on where the rats are, based on inspections done by the health department, as well as by their rat indexing initiative. The portal isn't a new open data initiative, but if you're a NYC resident and not a big fan of rodents, the site is worth a look. 'The most interesting part of the portal is the interactive heat map of rat inspection data,' says ITworld's Phil Johnson. 'Using this interactive map, you can look up the inspection history, going back to 2009, for any address in the five boroughs. It will tell you the dates and results of any inspections, as well of any follow up compliance checks. As for raw data, the site provides city-wide rat reports, aggregated to the zip code level, going back to 2006.'"
And not Washington. Holy crap, the map would just be red, highlighted by ultra red around congress.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Bioengineer RFID chips into all the NYC rats so you can tell where every one of the little bastards are at all times.
Introduce some new workers on the payroll ... cats. Spayed and full treatments. Have them able to be clearly identifiable so people know they are on the job.
I moved into a new suburb that is predominately a dog neighbourhood about two years ago. I still wake up most mornings to a nice dead rat on the welcome mat. I still cannot believe the number of rats that he's caught.
And don't hit me with the argument of native wildlife. Dogs are just as bad and most species now are introduced. The hit rate of vermin to non vermin way, way high.
When will they be dealt with?
Now we know what all those cats are doing on all those laptops.
I'd like to see a Google Maps mashup with the data overlayed over it for better panning and zooming.
The NYC GIS map is awkward to use and the rat data doesn't appear to show above a very close in zoom level.
There may be some other link to a city-wide heat map but I didn't find it on the rat portal web site and slashdot's total brain damaged linking to most stories doesn't help.
How about that; it's centered in Washington DC.
Table-ized A.I.
If we're tracking rats I want to see what the rats see.
Seriously, a health department makes a project with the acronym RIP? I hope they weren't dead serious about it.
City Hall?
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
My friend was once running a game on his laptop when his cat jumped up onto the table and promptly lay down across the laptop's keyboard.
It was so sudden and unexpected, we both burst out laughing. His guess, which I suspect was correct, was that the laptop gives off heat and the cat had learned that it was a source of warmth. So it decided to stretch out there and take a nap. The fact that we were trying to use it at the time was probably just a bonus.
Don't you mean "Rodent Americans".
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
A realistic dataset would show where we all know the rats live: city hall.
The "Rats" are in the Mayors Office, the Commissioners Offices, the Police Office(s), the state and federal Judiciary Offices for Christ sake!
We know the Rats.
We know where they ARE!
Its simple.
Just we need a 350 KT nuclear device to explode about 1000 m above ground over the Empire State Building and we ain't got that just yet but we are work'n on it.
and public health data, I'm always skeptical about datasets and maps like this. The reason is that what looks like a lot of data usually turns out to be not that much when you spread it out over all the environment you have to deal with. And it usually turns out to have all kinds of selection biases too -- at least the found stuff; data you collect as a side effect of other activities, rather than collected according to some kind of sampling protocol.
To see what I mean, look at the rodent heat map of NYC. You'll see red hot parcels adjacent to ice-cold parcels. Sometimes you'll have an ice-cold parcel with no reports surrounded on three sides by red hot parcels. Does that mean that one side of the boundary is teaming with rats and the other side has none whatsoever? Of course not. It means that somebody has reported a lot of rats on the "hot" parcel. Why is this? Well, maybe there's an observant resident. Maybe there's a place where it's particularly easy to see rats going about their business. Or maybe the residents of an area have banded together to generate a lot of reports so the city will do something. I've certainly seen stuff like that happen.
Imagine you are a rat looking at NYC. What are your top priorities? (1) water; (2) food, (3) shelter (or harborage in the rat watcher's lingo). And you're going to find those things *everywhere* in NYC. In fact the best places for you will be where you can go about your business unnoticed. There are many, many blocks with no rat reports surrounded by very similar blocks with lots of rat reports, and I'm guessing it's not because there are no rats there. And I doubt there's much more than a weak correlation between the rat population in an area and the number of reports.
Don't get me wrong. I think it's terrific NYC is making this data available. But I doubt you can conclude much about the rat population of your block from rat reports; it's safe to assume there are rats everywhere. If you want to know which blocks have the most rats, what you need is a field survey performed by experts.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Rats serve a purpose. I've lived in several of the largest cities in the US over the last 20-odd years, and they're fine. Including NYC, and yes, the morning rat migrations around Borough Hall were impressive. But hardly chilling.
Chilling is walking in a rural area, having a truck drive by, and stop in front of you.
automatic rat killing machines :)
http://www.wisecon.dk/?lang=en
in the sewers and you have a rat massacre.
Did you know even some *humans* live there in the wilderness? Even though it looks like a ghost town, if you look carefully, you can sometimes still find a home that still has someone living in it.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Jersey.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
If you have lots of cats, your rat population will be drastically reduced.
Societies of people who hate cats (who are generally scummy people) will suffer from mice and rat infestations. The ancient Egyptians (who were WHITE, by the way) worshipped cats for this very reason - they prevented their food stores from being destroyed by rats and mice.
Criminals hate cats, do a survey of the sort of men who hate cats and you'll see they are sociopathic.
The portal isn't a new open data initiative, but if you're a NYC resident and not a big fan of rodents, the site is worth a look.
It's also worth a look if you are a big fan of rodents.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
New Jersey, thankyouverymuch.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Here they are! Get them! Squash 'm! Eradicate 'm! Rid the world of this vermin!
--frank[at]unternet.org
Q: Why is starting a comment in the Subject: field incredibly irritating?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
The rat problem in NYC seems to be legendary. But, if there wasn't as much for them to eat then it wouldn't be an issue any bigger than any other city, right? Are there better solutions found in treating the cause rather than controlling the symptom?
We know where the rats are, and we know their names. It's hard not to when they keep running for a political office.
Im surprised NYC hasn't tried to impose taxes on rats..
All rodents can do that, including mice and voles. The thing that's different about Chicago is that the humans are so detached from nature that they don't know this.
Rodents cannot chew through glass, and it takes them a very long time to chew through metal or concrete. If you live near rodents, use a galvanized metal can; if you live near raccoons or possums use raccoon springs.
"You can generate maps of neighborhood rat inspectation [sic] data."
It's confusing that the high rat density areas are shown in green, since many of the areas happen to be parks and parks are normally green on maps. Plus, green usually means 'go' and is a pleasant color that makes me think "this is good".
It also struck me funny that the department is actually called "The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene"
Reminds me I need to pick up some mental floss at the drugstore.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
Because it should be obvious.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
You cook 'em right, they're good eating, rats. Vermin problem? No problem!
-kgj