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Mapping the City’s Noise Complaints, Building by Building


March 30, 2015 | Liam Mathews

PlaceLive, a quality-of-life data reporting platform, compiles information about things like affordability and safety and presents the data in helpful map form. It shared some of its detailed maps of noise complaints throughout New York City with UpOut, and the results are kind of surprising.

It gets pretty granular, looking lot-by-lot. The most noise complaints are in the Financial District, which is not highly populated at night. The noisiest neighborhood in Brooklyn is Williamsburg. There are relatively few noise complaints in Park Slope, a neighborhood notorious for its whiners.

The maps are not necessarily an accurate representation of actual noisiest neighborhoods, as they measure noise complaints, a subjective measure, rather than decibel level, but they give a pretty good indication of places to avoid if you’re looking for peace and quiet in the city.