It's hard to tell how old a city really is without knowing the age of each and every part of it. And with this stunningly neon map that indexes the ages of some 1,053,713 New York City buildings, you can do exactly that.
We've seen similar maps of Brooklyn before, but this rendition of the concept, put together by Brandon Liu turns the whole city into a historical orgy of color. The map makes use of NYC's PLUTO data set, which offers tax data about different lots in one giant file.
The data's not totally infallible; a few people have pointed out some inaccuracies. But on the whole, it shows a cool at-a-glance overview of what's new, what's old, and what's old. Just don't bet your life on any of the exact dates.
So go take a spin through space and time and figure out how long your favorite neighborhood has really been around. And even if you aren't a history nerd, it's damned pretty to stare at. [bdon via Atlantic Cities]