FlowingData Forums » Forum: Data Visualization

FlowingData Forums » Forum: Data Visualization - Recent Topics http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Strength in Numbers en Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:34:51 +0000 Dealing with clunky labels (like income levels) http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/dealing-with-clunky-labels-like-income-levels#post-2526 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:59:05 +0000 KevinP 2526@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I live in Korea and making various charts regarding schooling based on some data I have. One of the charts regards monthly income level, but the labels are very lengthy, especially as I have to use local currency.This gives me levels like: W100,000 or below W100,100,000 to 20,010,000 W200,100,010 to 30,010,000 (etc) W70,010,010 or above The two categories at the extremes are okay, but the middle ones (xxxx to xxxx) are awfully long and look horrible on a pie chart. (It sorta has to be a pie or donut chart because I'm setting up other pie charts next to it for comparison; otherwise a bar graph would be better.) I can't just put '(upper limit) or below' because, even though most people would understand it, it's inaccurate. These categories do not include the previous one. I may have to put in a legend, but I'm resisting this because legends make data less obvious as the eye has to bounce back and forth between the legend and the graph. Plus the other charts that it will be adjacent to do not need legends so I'd like to be consistent. Is there a simpler way to make these labels readable that I'm overlooking? (My audience is people residing in Korea so I have to kep the currency local. Converting it to $US makes some funky categories anyway.) SVG map of Canadian Census tracts http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/svg-map-of-canadian-census-tracts#post-2521 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:22:26 +0000 fuller.daniel 2521@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi, I just did the US county themed map tutorial. I would like to do something similar with Canadian census tracts and census data. Has anyone come across a Canadian census tract SVG file? I've done some searching and haven't found anything. If one is not available any suggestions on creating a SVG file for Canadian census tracts. Thanks, Dan Changing scale of a treemap http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/changing-scale-of-a-treemap#post-2516 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:20:03 +0000 elmany 2516@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi, I'm follow the wonderful tutorial: <a href="http://flowingdata.com/2010/02/11/an-easy-way-to-make-a-treemap/" rel="nofollow">http://flowingdata.com/2010/02/11/an-easy-way-to-make-a-treemap/</a> But I've been looking for a way to change the scale without luck. Can someone help me with this? Tanks in advance Visualizing your travel history http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualizing-your-travel-history#post-2510 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:15:19 +0000 patrick.stewart 2510@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ *I do work at TripIt, so...just a disclaimer. Design student Cemre Güngör completed his master's thesis this last December using his TripIt data to visualize his travels in 2011 in some very creative ways. Congrats to him for graduation and looking forward to more personal data visualizations! Some of his work: <a href="http://work.cem.re/#1229609/Travel-visualisation" rel="nofollow">http://work.cem.re/#1229609/Travel-visualisation</a> Flikr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/f/sets/72157628396293399/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/f/sets/72157628396293399/</a> tools for a web 3D interactive map http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/tools-for-a-web-3d-interactive-map#post-2513 Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:03:32 +0000 leosampieri 2513@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi everybody!. New here. I'd like to know which tools I should use in order to make a 3D, web based, interactive and scalable map of media and entertainment companies. That is, I'd have a database with all the companies listed, and each company would have a series of data to be displayed: amount of employees, country of origin, market area where it belongs (radio, cinema, TV, etc.), and other data yet to be defined. Hope I could explain myself clearly enough. Thanks in advance. Best regards, Leo. Creating Graphs in Illustrator (Quick Question) http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/creating-graphs-in-illustrator-quick-question#post-238 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:24:53 +0000 dparks 238@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hello, I've been reading FlowingData for the last six months or so. Wonderful site. I'm hoping posting small technical questions on this forum is acceptable. If not, please send me on my way (with a destination if you know one). My question. I'm trying to make my first graph in Illustrator and have run into one snag. The graph is a scatter plot with lines drawn between the data points. By default, illustrator represents the data points as small squares. I've been able to change the colour of these squares, but am wondering how (if) I can change their shape (say, from squares to circles). Any and all help is greatly appreciated. I've tried the usual google search, but have had limited success probably because I'm still learning the terminology used by Illustrator. What does illustrator call these little squares? Thanks, Donovan network and directed lines http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/network-and-directed-lines#post-2461 Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:32:04 +0000 mich 2461@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi, I have a question about the tutorial "How to map connections with great circles". Links of my network are directed and weighted; so I would like to draw arrows instead of lines (nice as lines), is there any way? Thank you very in advance! Where to start :/ http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/where-to-start#post-2490 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:23:05 +0000 apj101 2490@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ My data visualization thus far is limited to excel, for which I'm a definite power user. I'm looking to add more jazz and creativity to the way I present data. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of tools used. I am an average programmer, In the past Ive done Java, C++, Basic, and Perl. Just ordered the Visualize This book. I guess...what are the main tools/things i should be focusing on learning. I get very excited by maps and would defiantly like to map things where possible, such as out sales patterns, customer details, shipment routes etc etc Thanks everyone !! Local mapping - smaller than county level http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/local-mapping-smaller-than-county-level#post-2485 Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:55:22 +0000 mclarknc 2485@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi - I'm new here. I'm a freelance software developer beginning to work in data visualization and data analysis. I'm beginning a project for my local public library. Simply, we want to map active library users to figure out where our patrons are (and where they aren't). I'm looking for some ideas on how to approach this. My initial thought is to use census tract maps. I thought about Google Maps, but clusters of markers don't appeal to me as much as a choropleth-style map showing relative density of patrons in the local area. Has anyone used census tract maps for choropleth mapping? Any suggestions on how to get started? Thanks in advance, Michael Using gapminder like they do in the video! http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/using-gapminder-like-they-do-in-the-video#post-1480 Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:20:04 +0000 dc321 1480@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hello all - I recently started playing with Google Chart's Motion chart which is the same as Gapminder. However, I was wondering if there is a way to look WITHIN a country. For example, Gapminder has millions of year-country specific data. At some point in the video, Hans Rosling clicks on a country and 5 smaller bubbles come out of a country showing the quintiles within a country. Is there a similar way to work with our own data set so that if I want to include subpopulations within a country or other unit that I can do this? I am also open to using other programs that will have the same functionality. Thanks so much! Advice Requested: Analogy for Inverse Relationship http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/advice-requested-analogy-for-inverse-relationship#post-2451 Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:07:44 +0000 kstoneman 2451@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I'd like the FD Forum's help in a issue vexing my team. I work with salespeople, about as far from data visualization and data sets as you can get. So I need very clear, simple ways of demonstrating data relationships. I work in dental insurance. We have several relationships which are inverse. For example, in a PPO environment, we create plans with steerage, meaning that the greater the consequence you have for going out-of-network, the lower the premiums will be. We have used a "steering wheel" diagram to demonstrate this: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/72942466@N04/6581942567/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/72942466@N04/6581942567/</a> Recently, several people have commented that they couldn't get the relationship of the two: as the one piece increases, the other decreases. I've played with several different visual analogies, but with no success. My instinct is to use a graph to demonstrate, but that would confuse my audience more. Any and all suggestions and comments on how to improve comprehension are appreciated. Video tutorials for Visualize This? http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/video-tutorials-for-visualize-this#post-2489 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:37:21 +0000 markokeefe87 2489@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Are there any video tutorials for the examples in visualise this book? I'm getting error messages when I'm trying to complete the first exercise with the wunderground data. (I'm a complete novice in terms of programming/coding) Any help appreciated Visualising multidimensional data http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualising-multidimensional-data#post-2483 Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:40:26 +0000 mohit_ahead 2483@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi i am trying to visualise a five dimensional data in scattered form. Actually i am using clustering algorithm of unsupervised learning. And want to visualise all data points of data. Hope you will help. And also please guide me from where i can get good techniques regarding data visualisation. Real vs perceived circle area in data visualisation http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/real-vs-perceived-circle-area-in-data-visualisation#post-2453 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:22:43 +0000 dandare 2453@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi I am about to visualise some data using circles on top of a map but I am concerned about the real vs perceived circle size. I've read about a bias in the perception of the area of a circle but I am unable to google any advice. The best article I found so far is <a href="http://makingmaps.net/2007/08/28/perceptual-scaling-of-map-symbols/" rel="nofollow">http://makingmaps.net/2007/08/28/perceptual-scaling-of-map-symbols/</a> My questions are: - am I right using area of circle instead of diameter to represent desired value? - is it common to adjust the area sizes for the perception bias? If yes, how? Any ideas or reading recommendations are welcome. Can't access member tutorial after joining http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/cant-access-member-tutorial-after-joining#post-2479 Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:27:31 +0000 since1968 2479@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Howdy, I can't access the member tutorials after joining. My login does appear to work, but when I navigate to the new tutorial I still see the "join now" link. Problem extracting correct data via Python/BeautifulSoup http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/problem-extracting-correct-data-via-pythonbeautifulsoup#post-2476 Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:07:00 +0000 orangegodd 2476@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi.. Re: Visualise this. It's a great book- read it from cover to cover except I have a small problem which I was hoping someone may be able to help with. While working through the wunderground av temp explanation (p31>) everything works fine but the data being returned via Python doesn't match the source code for the "nobr" class. The variable requested outputs odd temperatures that do not appear in the source code. I have spent hours, Nay, days in fact trawling the Python/BeautifulSoup documentation to find an answer to no avail.. Massive appreciation if anyone can point out the error I am making! The results Python should return: <pre><code>>>> print nobrs[2] 14&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[3] 26&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[4] 26&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[5] 32&nbsp;&deg;C >>></code></pre> It actually returns: <pre><code>>>> print nobrs[2] -10&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[3] -3&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[4] -3&nbsp;&deg;C >>> print nobrs[5] 0&nbsp;&deg;C >>></code></pre> What kind of education do you recommend? http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/what-kind-of-education-do-you-recommend#post-185 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:52:20 +0000 abw 185@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I am a new college grad, and have been interested in infographics/graphic design for a while now. I like to play around with it on my own, but I have very little actual experience (my degree is in History). I'm wondering what kind of education you might recommend to get some training in the programming, analysis, and design aspects of infographics. Masters programs? Design school? Just learning the software and trying to find internships? Microsoft hates infographic designers http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/microsoft-hates-infographic-designers#post-2465 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:23:02 +0000 anarchyjim 2465@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ I think that is the only takeaway from Microsoft's new commercial: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H-Pg7S4VP0" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H-Pg7S4VP0</a> This answers the age old question of what happens when you take a teenage boy that doesn't know math, has no design skills, and you give him Powerpoint charts. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll have 80's Heavy Metal ruined for you (assuming that it wasn't already ruined for you). I'd like to think this was meant to be a funny take on all the awful charts created with Microsoft product, but it's Microsoft. I think they really believe these are cool charts. Good BusinessWeek Infographic from 2011 DataLossDB Data http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/good-businessweek-infographic-from-2011-datalossdb-data#post-2463 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:51:38 +0000 hrbrmstr 2463@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Evan Applegate did a good job (IMO) creating a summary infographic of 2011 DataLossDB (<a href="http://datalossdb.org/" rel="nofollow">http://datalossdb.org/</a>) breach incident data using a simple combination timeline/bubble chart. Infographic: <a href="http://images.businessweek.com/cms/2011-12-22/yearend4_dataleaks53__01__popup.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://images.businessweek.com/cms/2011-12-22/yearend4_dataleaks53__01__popup.jpg</a> Accompanying article: <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/data-security-your-information-their-loot-12222011.html?campaign_id=rss_search" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/data-security-your-information-their-loot-12222011.html?campaign_id=rss_search</a> Visualizing Large Social Network Graph Data http://forums.flowingdata.com/topic/visualizing-large-social-network-graph-data#post-2450 Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:07:24 +0000 firesofmay 2450@http://forums.flowingdata.com/ Hi, I am looking to create a large Social Networking Graph using the data I have scraped using Python from facebook. What I am interested in is, to Show the interconnections between people, and the nodes should be clickable, and when you hover over the nodes, it highlights the direct connections of them. The data set I am playing with is quite Large, Million Nodes give and Take. I have found static ways to generate the data, but I am looking for is more of interactive view of it. Can anyone suggest me the best to do this? Thanks a lot. I really appreciate any kinda help :)