All posts by Christopher Lowrey

Noise Complaints Chris Lowrey

Share

For my story I chose to look at noise complaints. I wanted to see where most complaints were lodged (which riding?) and how many the 311 call centre dealt with. I used a 311 dump file that compiled the monthly service requests that is accessible from: http://data.ottawa.ca/en/dataset/2014-311-monthly-service-request-submissions http://data.ottawa.ca/en/dataset/311-monthly-service-request-submissions http://data.ottawa.ca/en/dataset/2015-311-monthly-service-request-submissions I then used MySQL to retrieve all noise complaints from the datasets and compile them into a single excel file. From there I sorted the data according to times when the calls came in. This meant separating the time from the date value in excel by using ‘text to columns.’ From there I sorted all the calls into hour-long blocks (eg: 1 a.m. to 1:59 a.m.). I was able to tally up each hour-long block and see which hours had the highest call volume. It turns out that the 11 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. is the busiest hour. The graph is available here I also created an excel chart showing the total percentage:

Hour (1:00- 24:00) Total Number of Calls % of total Call Volume
1:00-1:59 2742 8.9
2:00-2:59 1788 5.8
3:00-3:59 1357 4.4
4:00-4:59 794 2.5
5:00-5:59 480 1.5
6:00-6:59 816 2.6
7:00-7:59 614 1.9
8:00-8:59 617 2
9:00-9:59 554 1.8
10:00-10:59 444 1.4
11:00-11:59 505 1.6
12:00-12:59 467 1.5
13:00-13:59 465 1.5
14:00-14:59 518 1.6
15:00-15:59 502 1.6
16:00-16:00 496 1.6
17:00-17:59 519 1.6
18:00-18:59 640 2.1
19:00-19:59 646 2.1
20:00-20:59 888 2.8
21:00-21:59 1329 4.3
22:00-22:59 2678 8.7
23:00-23:59 6365 20.7
00:00-00:59 4493 14.6
Total Call Volume 30717

I also wanted to see which wards received the most complaints. Not surprisingly, Rideau- Vanier was the ward with the highest volume. This ward has both Sandy Hill and the ByWard Market in it and these are both notoriously loud neighbourhoods. I made another chart here

Ward Number of Noise Complaints % of Total Calls
Ward 1- Orleans 812 2.6
Ward 2- Innes 664 3.1
Ward 3- Barrhaven 970 3.1
Ward 4- Kanata North 454 1.4
Ward 5- West Carleton- March 226 0.7
Ward 6- Stittsville 411 1.3
Ward 7- Bay 1141 3.7
Ward 8- College 1433 4.6
Ward 9- Knoxdale- Merivale 967 3.1
Ward 10- Gloucester- Southgate 1147 3.7
Ward 11- Beacon Hill- Cyrville 986 3.2
Ward 12- Rideau- Vanier 6511 21.1
Ward 13- Rideau- Rockliffe 1546 5
Ward 14- Somerset 4224 12.7
Ward 15- Kitchissippi 1471 4.7
Ward 16- River 1721 5.6
Ward 17- Capital 2318 7.5
Ward 18- Alta Vista 1093 3.5
Ward 19- Cumberland 625 2
Ward 20- Osgoode 238 0.8
Ward 21- Rideau-Goulbourn 263 0.8
Ward 22- Gloucester- South Nepean 615 2
Ward 23- Kanata South 857 2.8