The Real-Time Rat Tracking Map
Most transit maps show where people travel. RATFLOW NYC shows where the city's other commuters roam. RATFLOW NYC is a fascinating "data-art" project that visualizes New York City's estimated rat population using public data, probabilistic modelling, and a healthy dose of theatrical flair. Built using NYC Open Data, RATFLOW combines rodent-related 311 complaints with the locations of subway stations to create a city-wide rat-density model. The result is an animated map that is a hybrid of a transit dashboard, a rat surveillance system and rodent wildlife simulation. Rats do not have smartphones. Therefore RATFLOW is not actually mapping real rats. As the site itself explains, there is no GPS on a rat . Instead, it uses rodent complaints as indicators of rat activity and then extrapolates from those reports to generate a probabilistic model of where rats are most likely to be found. How the Model Works According to the project's methodology, each NYC 311 rodent c...
