Tag: data visualisation

  • Canada vs. the United States

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Last week I was asked what was the population of Canada. I first said 30 million. I then figured that was too small so I said more like 50–60 million. Turns out I was closer to being correct the first time. A Google search that cites the World Bank among its sources listed the population…

  • Deformed Tree Map

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    Brendan Barry
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    Yesterday the BBC published an article about the success of the United Kingdom’s creative industry especially given the not-so-successful economy of the last few years. Unfortunately, the article included the tree map below. The problems are a few. First, a tree map is usually looking at two variables. One is encoded through the size of…

  • Brand New Year, Same Old Politics

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    Brendan Barry
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    Today’s piece comes from this past weekend. The New York Times looked at how states fell on various politically sensitive issues, e.g. abortion and same-sex marriage, depending upon the political control of the executive and legislative functions of each state. In other words, which states have passed legislation to regulate abortion or same-sex marriage? States…

  • The Future of Data Visualisation

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Okay, we have all watched enough science fiction to know that there is not one future, but multiple futures. All options existing as if taken in parallel universes. Today’s post is not about a specific graphic, but rather a short article in the New York Times examining data visualisation. Through the work of Eric Rodenbeck…

  • Holiday Tidings…of War

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    I’ve been away for over two weeks on holiday. So to spread good cheer to all, today I am sharing an image from a series of maps the BBC put together to try and explain the civil war in South Sudan. Credit for the piece goes to BBC graphics department.

  • Travelling for the World Cup

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Well, travel for the teams, not you. It’s a big issue in Brazil because unlike the last couple of times, the teams need to travel big distances to reach the cities where they play their matches. Thankfully, to explain just how far some of these distances are for some of these teams, Quartz put together…

  • Winds Across the World

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Most of us have likely seen the wind map by Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg. However, this new wind map takes the idea and makes it a bit more useful. It offers the user the opportunity to look at winds at different levels of the atmosphere. Or you can look at different projections. Some projections…

  • Charting Literary Greatness

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    Brendan Barry
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    This is an interesting piece from Brain Pickings that looks at the literary careers of some of the 20th century’s greatest authors. Naturally, much debate will centre upon what is exactly a masterpiece, but if you take the subjectivity out of the graphic, you are left with an interesting piece. And I say interesting because…

  • The Next Cold War?

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    The New York Times has a nice piece about the Arctic, which is increasingly fought over by the nations north of the Arctic Circle. Maps like these are always opportunities I enjoy to see the world in an infographic that is not a standard projection, e.g. Mercator or Robinson. The slight change in fill or…

  • Old Healthcare Policy Renewal

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Let’s start this week off with cartograms. Sometimes I like the idea, sometimes not so much. Here is a case where I really do not care for the New York Times’ visualisation of the data. Probably because the two cartograms, a before and after of health policy renewals, do not really allow for a great…