Take a look at this interactive map of NYC's annual energy consumption by block. It's by Vijay Modi, a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, and graduate student Bianca Howard. According to Metropolis, "Their research allows New Yorkers to get a rough idea of how much energy is used inside their homes, offices and businesses — and it offers a peek into the building next door, down the street and across the city. The goal of the project is to take some of the mystery out of energy usage." more ›

Eric Fischer created a map showing Twitter traffic based on location, noting, "Broadway as the spine is not difficult to believe. Data from the Twitter streaming API (10000 points, 30000 vectors). Base map from OpenStreetMap, CC-BY-SA." Basically, it follows the city's biggest—and apparently most connected—corridors. more ›

Macy's 85th Annual Thanksgiving Day Parade is just two days away and the parade is getting ready to show off dozens of floats; 1,600 cheerleaders/dancers/performance group members; 11 marching bands; and dozens of balloons! There are 44 "novelty/ornament balloons, balloonicles and balloonheads" plus 15 giant character balloons, like Tim Burton's B. Boy and a new Julius the Monkey balloon from Paul Frank. Here's where to see the balloon inflation tomorrow (Wednesday, 11/23): more ›

In case you haven't noticed because we live in a city and all, we're at the tail end of peak foliage season! Get yourself to a park (here are some suggestions) to soak up that last bit of autumnal splendor. After all, when beautiful dying leaf season is over, all we've got are dead trees. more ›

What if The Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which put in place the grid system in Manhattan, was adopted by the entire world? ExtendNY has the answer, having now brought the grid to every inch of the planet, extending out from New York City. So by the time you hit Los Angeles you're at 20,000 Street and 14,000 Avenue 39th Street, while closer to home in Jersey City, you'd be at 39th Street and 28th Avenue. more ›

Is Son Of Sam the scariest person/thing to terrorize New York ever? Yes he is according to Pleated Jeans, who you may recall from the United States Of Shame map earlier this year. We can't help but feel a little underwhelmed: while hipsters roam Oregon, potato bugs terrorizes Idaho, and Zombie William Faulkner haunts Mississippi, NY is stuck with David Berkowitz. What about rent prices? Giant mutant rats? The constant underlying fear of another terror attack? What about packs of wild, hyper-articulate, nihilistic TEENAGERS??? more ›

When it comes to walking the mean streets of Gotham, the most dangerous neighborhood to be a pedestrian is...Midtown Manhattan. According to the data Transportation Alternatives has collected for its recently revamped CrashStat website between 1995-2009 there were 8,604 crashes in Manhattan Community District 5, way ahead of the next most dangerous area, Queens Community District 12 (which includes Jamaica, Hollis and St. Albans) where there were just 4,741 crashes. Averaged over the past 15 years a driver has struck a pedestrian in Midtown every single day. Meanwhile, the safest place to walk around without worry? Bronx Community District 8, which includes Riverdale, Fieldston and Kingsbridge. In the same period of time there have only been 788 crashes there. more ›

Over at GOOD they've asked their readers to name “the most culturally significant, sustainably produced, locally sourced sandwiches” in their home states—and now, behold, they've got a map with the results. Sadly, they use unappetizing black & white images of said sandwiches, but at least now we know what we're known for (within the confines of their sustainable and locally sourced requirements): the pastrami on rye. Agree, or agree to disagree? [via Flavorwire] more ›

The Legend of Zelda master swords may have been ignored by New Yorkers, but maybe there's just no place for them in Super Mario Land. One 8-bit fan has turned the five boroughs into videogame terrain, with NYC landmarks and all. Is Brooklyn Bowl really the best representative of Williamsburg, though? more ›

This map shows "how much space the world’s population of 6.9 billion would need if it were as dense as certain cities." If everyone lived like New Yorkers, the entire population could fit into Texas! more ›

Welcome New York City's newest transplant: a plant that will blind you. According to the Daily Mail, "state officials are warning residents to watch out for infestations of the dangerous plant, which can grown up to 12ft and has flowers the size of umbrellas." Their website is very alarmist! more ›

Street artist Beast has reinterpreted the city's subway map, rotating it 90 degrees, and essentially making Manhattan look very... excited. And for good reason: Bin Laden is dead! Brooklyn Street Art notes that "tourists gladly pointed to it’s features while some quizzical old timers took a little while more to gander at it, wondering what seemed different about the new map." They also say that the posters are all down now, so, insert erectile dysfuntion joke here. more ›

If there are two things we love they are movies and New York City maps. Put the two together and you've got a recipe for stopping all productivity at Gothamist HQ. And that is exactly what Bernie Hou of Alien Loves Predator has done, having spent the last five months cramming 91 movie references onto one awesome movie map of New York. more ›

Tomorrow is Record Store Day, when vinyl addicts nationwide flock to their local dealers... but there's even something for the neophytes. There will be special albums (like this Beastie Boys 7" and a just announced limited edition 12" single from Radiohead) and events in store at plenty of shops around town tomorrow (check out participating stores here), and we asked a handful of music types for some direction. Let them guide you, with their picks for best record shop in the city: more ›

Hollywood loves our bridges! Edmund Helmer has been tracking movie locations and currently has a Google map featuring 2,000 shooting locations all over the world (chosen for their high ratings on IMDB). You can get lost in the map here, where 9,736 yellow dots mark different sets throughout movie history (according to Switched, Google couldn't pinpoint all 2,000 so some ended up in the Bermuda Triangle). So, which of our bridges has been romanticized on the big screen the most? Here's a breakdown of which movies have set up shop on the structures: more ›

Meet Princeton graduate and 29-year-old bachelor Ebersole Gaines. In 1956, LIFE photographer Yale Joel followed him around New York City for an article in the magazine titled "Memo To The Girls" (you can read it here). He was part of the "surplus of bachelors" around at the time, either dodging or falling into the traps of "husband hunters." Gaines was one of the "highly eligible specimens" featured in the piece; he was a plastics salesman living in New York, and preferred college girls (because, of course he did). MEN. more ›

Here's just another example of why most people need another lesson in statistics, or at least just the value of obtaining a wide and varied sample size when conducting a poll. Blog It To Me decided to take a look at the "tastemaking" borough of Brooklyn to see what they're wearing. And apparently for neighborhoods like Bay Ridge and Midwood, it's nothing. more ›