Interactive NYC Rats-Infested Neighborhoods Study

This data-based study was inspired by my observations about NYC's common rat sightings. I initiated the study and collaborated with RentHop's PR team to publish the nation-wide data-based studies on New York and Chicago's rise of 311 Rat Complaints on major neighborhoods, which aids renters by providing them with more information on the issue.

The dataset was obtained from NYC.gov. Since the dataset had varied formats, it had to be cleaned and pre-processed, before transferring the data to Python reverse-geocode the latitudes, longitudes pairs into their respective neighborhoods. The articles were written and then published on RentHop's Research section, along with the interactive data visualization. I was very fortunate to be provided with the opportunity to get in touch and interview with reporters who queried for more data for their news outlets.

Geocoding (Latitude, Longitude) Pairs To Each Neighborhood

The lat, lon coordinates were geocoded with a Python script, Mapbox API and Pandas. Check out my Github repo for the code: click here.

Global News Coverage

The data study was reported on several news including: New York Post, Wall Street Journal, UK Daily Mail, The Chicago Tribune & others. To read the original data study on NYC's rat complaints, click here. For the study on Chicago's rat complaints, click here.