Estimating the Heights of New Yorkers from Their Scuff Marks
I analyzed scuff marks on a concrete wall at the Smith–Ninth Streets station in Brooklyn to estimate commuter heights. By using a keypad as a scale and measuring pixel luminance, I mapped where shoes strike the wall. While the initial data suggested an average height, the wide variance revealed that leg angle significantly impacts the results, prompting a need for more complex Bayesian modeling.
The distribution implies people who are impossibly tall.
- AndrewKemendo
This is a good description, and similar to my favorite game to play in public with my kids: “Find the normal distribution”
Of course the most frequent ones are on door handles or pushes. Then usually parking space oil stains around an entrance. Etc…
Desire paths are also generally very tight gaussians.
You can learn a lot about pattern of life just by looking at how humans wear down the world
- Hussain04
Nah that last image caught me off guard
- what
Why are scuff marks assumed to be from shoes? Why not bags/briefcases hitting the wall while leaning against it? Might explain the “implausibly tall”.