Examining How We Measure Our Lives
Commentary, critiques, and observations on information design and data visualisation
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Read on…: Boston Marathon
Today’s post comes from the Boston Globe and maps the locations of the bomb sites along the Boston Marathon route yesterday. Credit for the piece goes to the Globe Staff.
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How Dragonflies Hunt
Read on…: How Dragonflies HuntToday’s post is certainly smaller, but it’s always interesting to see how infographics and information design can help us better understand science and nature. This is a piece from the New York Times that illustrates how a dragonfly hunts its prey, fruit flies. Instead of flying straight at the fruit fly, the dragonfly plots a course that keeps it on…
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North American Transit Map
Read on…: North American Transit MapWrapping up this week of map-themed work, we have xkcd. He created an integrated map of North America’s subway systems from Vancouver to Chicago to Philadelphia to Washington to Mexico City. I only wish I could take the Red Line from Belmont and transfer to the Market–Frankford near West Trenton. Because I could then take the (Frankford) El out to…
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Cartograms
Read on…: CartogramsContinuing this week’s map theme, we have an example of a cartogram from the New York Times. This piece supplements an article about how some manufacturing companies are starting to look away from China as a place for their facilities. There are two maps, the first (not shown here) looks at economic output overall. The second (below) takes that output…
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Waste Water Disposal Wells
Read on…: Waste Water Disposal WellsToday’s map comes from the Texas Tribune out of Austin, Texas. The map displays the location of disposal wells, i.e. the sites where the waste water from fracking and related drilling operations are dumped. Firstly, the map hints that the fracking industry is not spread equally across the state. But secondly, the map does this through the use of hexagons…
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Arming a Civil War
Read on…: Arming a Civil WarWar is good for the arms business. So a long and bloody civil war in Syria is just what arms manufacturers want. And while arming the Syrian government is fairly easy, how do you get weapons and ammunition to the Syrian rebels? The New York Times maps the flow of arms through an almost Sankey-like diagram where the number of…
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Proposed Expansion of Massachusetts Railway Network
Read on…: Proposed Expansion of Massachusetts Railway NetworkWhen we talk about new rail projects, or even highway or airport expansions, we like to include maps of new routes and destinations. In that sense this map from the New York Times is not new. However, we often forget in such visualisations that we have the opportunity to add layers of information that show why these expansions are beneficial.…
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All Fracked Up
Read on…: All Fracked UpLast week a new study revealed that the injection of wastewater from oil drilling and fracking may contribute to earthquakes. Put simply, the theory is that the wastewater injected into the ground lubricates fault lines. And when sufficiently lubricated, the resistance between sides of the fault vanishes and an earthquake is triggered to release the tension in the fault line.…