For Steve Duenes's Information Visualization class, our mid-term project brief was to ride the M42 bus across Manhattan, and design a visual analysis of any data set we found compelling. The bus route goes east and west along the famous 42nd Street, passing landmarks like Times Square, Grand Central Station, and the New York Public Library.

As I rode the bus I noticed how bumpy the ride felt. The road conditions seemed terrible, so I downloaded a seismograph mobile app for my phone and tracked the readings along the route. I timed every stop the bus made, and was able to transcribe 40,000 gravitational force readings to the city map.


From analyzing the data, it became apparent the bumpiest stretches of pavement were near landmarks with heavy traffic, and also on the West side where prolonged construction is underway. I showed this in the information visualization by gradating red in correspondence with bumpy seismographic readings, and photo callouts to highlight areas in need of repair.