Have you ever wondered how many squirrels lived in Central Park? Now there is a map for that!
Denise Lu at the New York Times Interactive joined a team of data gatherers to complete a survey of squirrels in Central Park. Using this data, I created a map on ArcGIS Online that shows where squirrels are located throughout Central Park. I added Lu’s dataset as a feature layer and visualized the squirrel data by their fur color: grey, black, or cinnamon. I uploaded custom images to use as icons for the three different kinds of squirrels.
To make things a little more interesting, I also added a terrain map to see if there was any correlation between elevation and squirrel presence. At first glance, it seems like squirrels tend to prefer higher ground (although that could just be because lakes and rivers are naturlaly at a lower elevation than land).
I hope you all enjoy!
Grace, I really like how you chose to compare squirrels’ location to the relative elevation in Central Park. The color contrast between the squirrel colors and the elevation layer makes it easier to read. It was really interesting that you found that the squirrels tend to prefer higher land. I wonder if this is due to the lack of bodies of water, the amount of foliage present, or some other phenomenon.