In the newly released book Data Points: Vsualizatoin that Means Something, Nathan Yau (Flowing Data blog) shares his ideas on understanding, visualizing, and analyzing data. The examples are useful and implementable. Many focus on sets of graphs with multiple dimensions of data, rather than a single chart type. The author also presents ideas and examples of solving typical …
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Chart of the Week: Gun Regulation by State
The UK Guardian newspaper recently published an interactive ring diagram showing gun regulation by US states. It’s an attractive diagram but makes so many elementary mistakes in charting that it fails to summarize the data in a meaningful way. Analysis: If the graph makes a single point, it’s that all states regulate whether a weapon is carried in public …
Chart of the Week: Timeline+Segmentation+ Scatterplot
Information-dense charts show multiple relationships in data in a single, chart. They take more time to read/review, but provide deeper insights. This week’s example from R.W Brunskill’Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture shows the evolution of “vernacular architecture”. Vernacular architecture ” will have been designed by an amateur, probably of the occupier of the intended building and one …
Chart of the Week: Bucket vs. Pail
What’s the difference between a pail and a bucket? According to this chart in Word Geography of the Eastern States (Kurath, 1941), most of the New England and New York use “pail” (triangle) , while Pennsylvania and the lower mid-Atlantic states use “bucket”. Data context: Kurath had local research teams who focused on cities and towns which had been …
Gifts for Data Geeks: My Life in Graphs
Gifts for Data Scientists and other data geeks: My Life in Graphs from Knock Knock Design is a gruided journal where you write about your life using graphs and charts. In Seattle, it’s available at Elliot Bay Book Company in Queen Anne or online through Amazon.
Smart Fork — Big Data and Healthy Eating
hapi labs is introducing a “smart fork” at CES this year. It is a fork with a built in sensor to track: Fork servings — how long it takes from the plate to the mouth The amount of “fork servings” taken per minute. Intervals between “fork servings”. How long it took to eat a meal. The user can upload and share data …
Visualizing worldwide education disparities with the WIDE tool: A data meatloaf
Using the recently released WIDE (World Inequality Database on Education) is part of a UN initiative called education for all. This is an example of a visualization Mean years of education using the tool: It’s also possible to view multiple indicators for a country, for example, Dominican Republic: Some high level thoughts: As data visualization, does it work? My …
Speck Design + Venn Diagrams
A number of bloggers have commented on the impossibility of the Venn diagram posted on a building in New York City. The categories read: People who live in Noho People who live in Soho People who can afford their rent Even though it’s just an ad, it raises some interesting questions about using Venn diagrams — two of the three categories …
Classifying Chevy El Camino
How do you classify something like the Chevy El Camino? Is it a truck? pickup truck? car? or something in-between? When my son was two years old he used to call pickup trucks “George trucks” after his Uncle George who drove a pickup truck at the time. One day we saw a Chevy El Camino and I asked him …
How large data sets create opportunities for entrepreneurs
Large data sets provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to create new businesses that help customers make decisions using data and analytics.. I’ve reviewed a couple of them previously: Solum (geotargeting fertilizer to increase crop yield) and Steetlight Data (optimizing retail store location) A recent article in Slate entitled Here Comes the Data Economy describes how startups like BrightScope are leveraging big data …