The Art of Data Visualization | Off Book | PBS

Humans have a powerful capacity to process visual information, skills that date far back in our evolutionary lineage. And since the advent of science, we have employed intricate visual strategies to communicate data, often utilizing design principles that draw on these basic cognitive skills. In a modern world where we have far more data than we can process, the practice of data visualization has gained even more importance. From scientific visualization to pop infographics, designers are increasingly tasked with incorporating data into the media experience. Data has emerged as such a critical part of modern life that it has entered into the realm of art, where data-driven visual experiences challenge viewers to find personal meaning from a sea of information, a task that is increasingly present in every aspect of our information-infused lives.

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Visualize Global Health | Humanosphere It’s a new dawn for global health data borne of necessity, mind-numbing numbers, Netflix and a desire to avoid insanity. “For our own sanity, we needed to create a new way to look at this stuff,” said Peter Speyer. Speyer, head of data development at Seattle’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, explained why he and his colleagues are transforming a massive collection of health data known as the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) into a stunning collection of powerful online and interactive visual tools. Go to the link; below is just a screen grab. Seriously, go there and try these out. You’ll have fun even if you don’t know yet what you’re doing.

Visualize Global Health | Humanosphere

It’s a new dawn for global health data borne of necessity, mind-numbing numbers, Netflix and a desire to avoid insanity.

“For our own sanity, we needed to create a new way to look at this stuff,” said Peter Speyer.

Speyer, head of data development at Seattle’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, explained why he and his colleagues are transforming a massive collection of health data known as the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) into a stunning collection of powerful online and interactive visual tools. Go to the link; below is just a screen grab. Seriously, go there and try these out. You’ll have fun even if you don’t know yet what you’re doing.

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The World’s Tweets Light Up the Globe in Stunning Live Visualization | Wired Design | Wired.com It’s simple, but lovely. Web designer Franck Ernewein‘s real-time Twitter visualization, Tweetping, drops a bright pixel at the location of every tweet in the world, starting as soon as you open the page. The result is a constantly changing image that grows to look like a nighttime satellite shot, bright spots swarming over the most developed areas. But Ernewein has packaged it all in a subtly interactive visualization that avoids distracting the viewer while still imparting a great amount of information.

The World’s Tweets Light Up the Globe in Stunning Live Visualization | Wired Design | Wired.com

It’s simple, but lovely. Web designer Franck Ernewein‘s real-time Twitter visualization, Tweetping, drops a bright pixel at the location of every tweet in the world, starting as soon as you open the page.

The result is a constantly changing image that grows to look like a nighttime satellite shot, bright spots swarming over the most developed areas. But Ernewein has packaged it all in a subtly interactive visualization that avoids distracting the viewer while still imparting a great amount of information.

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The Changing Goals of Data Visualization | eagereyes The visual representation of data has gone through a number of phases, with its goals switching back and forth between analysis and presentation over time. Many introductions to visualization tend to portray historical examples as all being done for the same purpose. That, I argue in this short, incomplete, and cherry-picked history, is not true. Early to Mid–1800s: Playfair, Nightingale, Snow, Minard The first uses of graphics to represent data, interestingly, were very bare and abstract, and at the same time were mostly tools for communication. The abstract nature of these early charts is surprising when you consider the amount of ornamentation and decoration that was common with even simple household objects in the early to middle of the 19th century. John Snow’s and Charles Minard’s maps were downright stark compared with many maps drawn at the time.

The Changing Goals of Data Visualization | eagereyes

The visual representation of data has gone through a number of phases, with its goals switching back and forth between analysis and presentation over time. Many introductions to visualization tend to portray historical examples as all being done for the same purpose. That, I argue in this short, incomplete, and cherry-picked history, is not true.

Early to Mid–1800s: Playfair, Nightingale, Snow, Minard

The first uses of graphics to represent data, interestingly, were very bare and abstract, and at the same time were mostly tools for communication. The abstract nature of these early charts is surprising when you consider the amount of ornamentation and decoration that was common with even simple household objects in the early to middle of the 19th century. John Snow’s and Charles Minard’s maps were downright stark compared with many maps drawn at the time.

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A Visualization of NYC’s Frantic Transit Patterns Over 24 Hours

Using data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, this animation tracks public transportation on a weekday, starting at 4am. Sumus, the Canadian software company behind these visualizations, uses the General Transit Feed Specification data from various cities to create a whole series of videos that you can check out on YouTube. Be sure to watch full screen in 720 HD to see the movement of subways and buses (which appear to be color-coded to match the corresponding lines). 

(via theatlantic)

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Big Geographic Data -- From Tokyo Retailers to Flood Zones - Forbes

IBM and Esri, the mapping company, are linking advanced analytics with geographic information by pulling information from previously siloed systems with big data tools.

KDDI, a mobile and fixed line communications company in Japan, has developed extensive information about its customers through the data it collects including URLs visited, type of mobile device, purchase history and buying habits, gender and age group.

Combining data and geo information from Esri, the company is providing the information to firms for marketing campaigns, said Matt Rollender, IBM’s big data technology alliances executive. Now a marketer could make an offer to a potential customer when they approach a company’s retail location.

In the past, Esri focused on mapping and visualization. Now in an alliance with IBM, it can provide advanced analytics on the data prior to visualization to provide greater insights.

Last October Esri acquired SpotOn, a geo-spatial business intelligence software developer which worked with IBM Cognos to provide customers with embedded maps in their reports.

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Visualizing Every Single Carbon Emission In Your City | Co.Exist Hestia is a new project that lets you see the whole picture of emissions, from that SUV idling at a red light to the power plant down the block. We know, in the aggregate, that highways and buildings produce a lot of carbon. All those cars and trucks, and all those office towers and shopping malls—with their heating systems, and lighting, and appliances: It all adds up. No doubt. But that highway and that building and that airport? And how they compare? You can’t really appreciate it until you have good data, and, even more important, a good way of visualizing it.

Visualizing Every Single Carbon Emission In Your City | Co.Exist

Hestia is a new project that lets you see the whole picture of emissions, from that SUV idling at a red light to the power plant down the block.

We know, in the aggregate, that highways and buildings produce a lot of carbon. All those cars and trucks, and all those office towers and shopping malls—with their heating systems, and lighting, and appliances: It all adds up. No doubt. But that highway and that building and that airport? And how they compare? You can’t really appreciate it until you have good data, and, even more important, a good way of visualizing it.

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Hangouts With James Fee: The Future of GIS - Spatially Adjusted

This week we talked about the future of GIS. 

Next week? The always entertaining Sean Gorman and I will talk about real time visualization of spatial data and if we ask nicely what is in store for GeoIQ.

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Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds | Climate Central While temperatures have been blistering this summer, this video takes the longer historical view. It comes to us from our friends at NASA and is an amazing 26-second animation depicting how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1880. That year is what scientists call the beginning of the “modern record.” You’ll note an acceleration of those temperatures in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect on the climate, and thus were masking some of the global warming signal. The data come from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures. As NASA notes, “in this animation, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.” 

Watch 131 Years of Global Warming in 26 Seconds | Climate Central

While temperatures have been blistering this summer, this video takes the longer historical view. It comes to us from our friends at NASA and is an amazing 26-second animation depicting how temperatures around the globe have warmed since 1880. That year is what scientists call the beginning of the “modern record.” You’ll note an acceleration of those temperatures in the late 1970s as greenhouse gas emissions from energy production increased worldwide and clean air laws reduced emissions of pollutants that had a cooling effect on the climate, and thus were masking some of the global warming signal. The data come from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures. As NASA notes, “in this animation, reds indicate temperatures higher than the average during a baseline period of 1951-1980, while blues indicate lower temperatures than the baseline average.” 

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David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization (by TEDEducation)

David McCandless turns complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections. Good design, he suggests, is the best way to navigate information glut — and it may just change the way we see the world.

David McCandless draws beautiful conclusions from complex datasets — thus revealing unexpected insights into our world.

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Google plots the 20-year evolution of the Web | CNET News As part of its Google I/O extravaganza, Google released an interactive visualization that tracks the evolution of the Web over the last 20 years in terms of user and data growth, as well as the core Web technologies that have driven the transformation of the Internet from plain old HTML to a rich, interactive medium.

Google plots the 20-year evolution of the Web | CNET News

As part of its Google I/O extravaganza, Google released an interactive visualization that tracks the evolution of the Web over the last 20 years in terms of user and data growth, as well as the core Web technologies that have driven the transformation of the Internet from plain old HTML to a rich, interactive medium.

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