NYC: Where to go for a night out based on noise complaints
There were 91,199 noise complaints filed by police in New York City at establishments categorized as a bar, club, or restaurant in 2016.
Some friends of mine had just come back from a road trip to New York City. Though they had fun, they still debated whether they had made the most of their short fall break and the nightlife that the city offers. None of them had been before and with so many offerings it is hard to chisel down where to go.
This left me thinking — I don’t drink or party, but could I help my friends find their 5 o’ clock somewhere?
Methodology
Hmm… In a well populated area with a well funded police force, could I use noise complaints as a proxy of party magnitude?
Thanks to the the New York City Open Data Portal, I was able to pull such data for 2016 and filter on locations deemed as bars, clubs, or restaurants. As stated before, this subset had 91,199 noise complaints and 2,456 locations. Upon diving in to find the perfect partier’s paradise, I discovered that my party going friends may also want to know which subway line or station could get them to the best locations. Better yet, which stations and lines should they target to get the best that the night has to offer…
This task complicated my analysis. Again, thanks to the New York City Open Data Portal, I was able to map the 1,868 subway stops in the city and their information to every bar with a noise complaint, calculate the distance between every pairing, and move forward with my friends and you. As an added bonus, I decided to map all the data I had. For simplicity, I refer to restaurants, clubs, and bars in the data moving forward as bars. But, before the maps, let’s look at some fast facts.
Fast Facts
1) Pick your borough wisely…
The height of the bars represents the average number of noise complaints by bar by year for each borough. The width indicates the number of bars, relative to the other boroughs. It’s obvious that in terms of quantity and quality of bars, restaurants, and clubs for a night out a person should target Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Queens. You can probably skip the Bronx…
2) The subway line matters…
I predicted the number of noise complaints for a subway line based on the number of bars that are closest to stations on that line to determine which stations over-performed. That is, which had more noise complaints than they should. The labels to the left show which lines you should ride to maximize the craziness of your night based on the number of bars and past noise complaints. A good rule of thumb is to stick to the avenues: 8, 6, and 4 Avenue subway lines. They each had a higher proportion of bars mapped to stations on their lines, as well a higher number of noise complaints. If you are looking to avoid the decision making, hop on Nostrand. They have ~20% of the bars that Avenue 8 has but like to party just as much, if not more, judging by the distance from the line.
3) Or just target the “party” stations directly…
Top 5 Stations (Based on Number of Bars):
- 96: Bedford Av
- 91: 2nd Av
- 70: 86th St
- 65: 95th St
- 62: 1st Av
Top 5 Stations (Based on Number of Complaints):
- 3,875: 2nd Av
- 2,975: Bedford Av
- 2,634: 86th St
- 2,302: 95th St
- 2,294: Dyckman St-200th St
If you don’t want to target boroughs or lines, then maybe just go for specific stations. 2nd Av, Bedrod Av, 86th St, and 95th St might be your best bet. If you are looking for a rowdy time, especially compared to the number of bars, then checkout Dyckman St-200th St station. If you are looking for the variety of a top 5 station without the commotion, then 1st Av is for you.
Now that we have created some baselines for you to plan your night, it is time for the creme de la creme — actual maps to base your decisions on.
Maps
These maps can assist you in planning your time wisely in the busy city. While these are static, if you click on the titles you can use the interactive maps.
Color depicts the subway line. Size indicates either the number of noise complaints or number of bars (if looking at the subway maps). For those of you that like to stay out late and get a little hangry, I’ve even taken the liberty of mapping which stations have vending machines (simply scroll over the points in the interactive map after clicking on the static images).
Bar Map
Subway Map
*Click on the map titles to go to the interactive maps in Tableau*
Final Thoughts
Notice how busy the maps are?
There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless. Simone de Beauvoir
I am a man of the people. If you are looking for a sleepless night in the city, then this post is for you. If this analysis can help your friends, like I hope it will help mine, then feel free to pass it along and bookmark the map data for your next trip to “The City That Never Sleeps”!
If you liked this post, check out my personal site.
If you want to connect, let’s get professional.
Subscribe to the Duke AI Society Blog to see more from myself and my peers in the Fuqua MQM: Data Analytics program in the future!
