2008 Newspaper Endorsements

infochimps.org: Map of Newspaper Endorsements for 2008 US Election

The data are on the page.

Challenge: Do better with these data.

Weather Down Under w/ Processing

Flink Labs | Data Visualisation | Flink Weather

Here is an example of what you can do with Processing, one of our foci for the Visualizing Data class.

Discuss: 1) How intuitive is the grid over the outline map? 2) does the grid make more sense after watching it for a while? 3) how do we balance simple graphics that are instantly clear versus complex graphics that repay close study with richer understanding? 4) Note the use of the weather dashboard at the bottom, an example of "sparklines", animation, and multivariate data display.

Conflict History

Conflict History | 1901-1913

All the wars, choose your years.

Discuss: 1) As a visual display of a database, how does this do? 2) What are the advantages of linking it to Google Maps? 3) What are the disadvantages of the ubiquitous use of Google Maps? 4) Is this a case where geography is the right abstraction for visualization? a) it locates conflict in familiar space b) non-spatial locations (time, magnitude of conflict) might be more revealing?

How to Make a Thematic Map

How to Make a US County Thematic Map Using Free Tools | FlowingData

This is a great worked example of both scraping data and turning it into a nice visualization.

These are very important tools you should know.

Discuss: 1) Why learn Python when you could just type the data into a spreadsheet? 2) R does maps too. Which is better? 3) GIS? See Grass for an open source GIS system.