Historic Industrial Land Use Records from Sanborn Maps

Historic land uses on vacant, privately-owned, industrially-zoned tax lots in New York City, primarily from a 2009 review. Data was gathered by the Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) examining up to seven years of Sanborn fire insurance maps per lot over the past century, with 139 additional lots added in 2014. Each record represents land use information from a specific map year for a specific tax lot.

Use Cases

• Identify potential environmental contamination by analyzing the `environmental_concern` and `facility_type` columns for industrial uses.
• Track land use history for specific properties by joining records on the `Original_BBL` or `2021_bbl` (Borough-Block-Lot) identifier across multiple `map_year` entries.
• Analyze the prevalence of specific industrial features, such as gas stations or auto repair, by classifying entries in the `facility_feature` column.
• Study the temporal distribution of industrial activity by aggregating records by the `map_year` field.

Strengths

• Data derived from historical Sanborn maps spanning up to 100 years, providing long-term context.
• Includes examination of up to seven years of maps per individual tax lot for detailed temporal analysis.
• Contains specific identifiers like `Original_BBL` and `2021_bbl` for precise geospatial linking.

Limitations

• Sample is limited to lots that were vacant, privately owned, and zoned for manufacturing in 2009, introducing selection bias.
• Not all historical years were examined for each included lot due to funding constraints.
• Data scope is confined to a specific set of tax lots, not a complete citywide inventory.

Provenance

Source

Office of Environmental Remediation (OER), City of New York, via data.cityofnewyork.us.

Collection Method

Manual review and recording of information from historical Sanborn fire insurance maps by a vendor.

Time Range

Map years span approximately 100 years prior to 2009, with individual lot records covering up to seven examined years.

Freshness

Dataset was last updated on the platform in January 2024, though the underlying historical map review occurred primarily in 2009 with a 2014 addition.

Geography

Tax lots within New York City that were vacant, privately owned, and zoned for manufacturing in 2009.