The footprints of every building in NYC

xnx wrote: post #2

Direct link to the data: https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/main/... Article does some nutzo thing where it adds ?ref=beautifulpublicdata.com to outgoing links.

Thanks, we'll put that link in the toptext as well.

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#5

Post by pavel_lishin » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 10:36 PM UTC

adrianparsons wrote: post #3

Great writeup! I work with NYC open data but did not know about this dataset! > Garages make up one-fifth of NYC buildings I'm quite surprised by this.

I wonder if this is in the parts of the outer boroughs where detached houses are the norm?

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#6

Post by HFguy » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 11:14 PM UTC

adrianparsons wrote: post #3

Great writeup! I work with NYC open data but did not know about this dataset! > Garages make up one-fifth of NYC buildings I'm quite surprised by this.

Yes, something seems off. Wonder if "Parking" got lumped into "Garage"?

Type of Building. List of values: 1000 = Parking 1001 = Gas Station Canopy 1002 = Storage Tank 1003 = Placeholder (triangle for permitted bldg) 1004 = Auxiliary Structure (non-addressable, not garage) 1005 = Temporary Structure (e.g. construction trailer) 1006 = Cantilevered Building 2100 = Building 2110 = Skybridge 5100 = Building Under Construction 5110 = Garage

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#7

Post by bflesch » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 2:20 AM UTC

This is amazing. Unfortunately the 1960s, 70s and 80s seem to have been censored in the historic aerial maps. It's a very important period in NYC construction history where buildings with interesting shapes kept popping up.

The gap between 1951 and 1996 can be seen in: https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/main/...

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#8

Post by ssl-3 » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 11:24 AM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #7

This is amazing. Unfortunately the 1960s, 70s and 80s seem to have been censored in the historic aerial maps. It's a very important period in NYC construction history where buildings with interesting shapes kept popping up. The gap between 1951 and 1996 can be seen in: https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/main/...

Censored is a very strong word.

Are you sure they aren't just lost/never-digitized/unlicensable/Occam's-razor/something-else?

Because, I mean: Historic Aerials[1] seems to cover that period pretty well, despite their resolutely awful user interface and extraordinary reluctance towards allowing useful links.

[1]: https://www.historicaerials.com/

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#9

Post by C-x_C-f » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 12:03 PM UTC

ssl-3 wrote: post #8

bflesch wrote: post #7

This is amazing. Unfortunately the 1960s, 70s and 80s seem to have been censored in the historic aerial maps. It's a very important period in NYC construction history where buildings with interesting shapes kept popping up. The gap between 1951 and 1996 can be seen in: https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/main/...

Censored is a very strong word. Are you sure they aren't just lost/never-digitized/unlicensable/Occam's-razor/something-else? Because, I mean: Historic Aerials[1] seems to cover that period pretty well, despite their resolutely awful user interface and extraordinary reluctance towards allowing useful links. [1]: https://www.historicaerials.com/

> Censored is a very strong word

I believe GP is using the stats/data science meaning of the word "censor" which is a neutral term simply indicating missing/obscured data (without implication of intent) [0]

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/censor#Verb

Re: The footprints of every building in NYC

#10

Post by bflesch » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 12:39 PM UTC

ssl-3 wrote: post #8

bflesch wrote: post #7

This is amazing. Unfortunately the 1960s, 70s and 80s seem to have been censored in the historic aerial maps. It's a very important period in NYC construction history where buildings with interesting shapes kept popping up. The gap between 1951 and 1996 can be seen in: https://github.com/CityOfNewYork/nyc-geo-metadata/blob/main/...

Censored is a very strong word. Are you sure they aren't just lost/never-digitized/unlicensable/Occam's-razor/something-else? Because, I mean: Historic Aerials[1] seems to cover that period pretty well, despite their resolutely awful user interface and extraordinary reluctance towards allowing useful links. [1]: https://www.historicaerials.com/

Check out the 1951 layer [1], it has a huge gap in the rockaway beach / hammels area which is not present in the 1924 layer or any other layers. Historicaerials.com does not offer 1951 or 1924, it only offers 1954 and later.

The gap in the 1951 aerials is around the 40°34'51.42"N 73°49'54.81"W coordinates in the Rockaway Beach/Hammels area.

From an organizational perspective the gap makes sense because they took the 1951 aerial pictures, then they noticed several symbols that are definitely not aligned with US winning WW2, and then they removed/replaced those buildings and took the 1954 aerials to confirm and actually deliver an aerial without those bad symbols.

This is not baseless speculation because it neatly ties into a chain of really badly-shaped buildings and construction projects in other places - NYC would've been the most in-your-face one.

In the limited footage from 1954 onwards the shapes of new construction still resembles the original "very bad" shape (especially depending on garden layout), but any of those X-shaped building has plausible deniability and could be anything from "normal" design to a KKK cross.

[1] https://nyc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?layers...