The global population is growing at an incomprehensible rate and with it come complex environmental consequences that often result in social injustices. The United Nations has established a set of ...Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an attempt to ameliorate inequality and promise safety for the masses. To reach these goals, a set of indicators have been identified and their associated data for each country are publicly available to measure how close each country is to each goal. Multifaceted social and environmental processes that are difficult to understand are causing threats to these goals. Maps help reduce complexity. Now, arguably anyone with access to the Internet and time can make a map. However, not all maps are effective accurate communication vessels. Well-designed maps tell a story that truthfully represents the data available. Here we present a synthesis of the cartographic workflow pointing out specific considerations necessary when mapping SDG indicators. Along the way we illustrate the cartographic workflow as it relates to visualizing SDG indicators. Common mapping pitfalls are described and a range of suggestions to avoid them are also offered. Map makers have a unique opportunity to use these data to illuminate and communicate injustices that are documented therein to inspire creative localized solutions to eradicate inequality.
Origin-destination (OD) visualizations can help to understand movement data. Unfortunately, they are often cluttered due to the quadratic growth of the data and complex depictions of the multiple ...dimensions in the data. Many domain experts have designed visualizations to reduce visual complexity and display multiple data variables. However, OD visualizations have not been well classified, which makes it hard to employ such methods for reducing the visual complexity systematically. In this article, we propose a novel classification scheme for static OD visualizations that considers five aspects: the granularity of flows, the dimensionality in and of the display space, the semantics of the display space, the representation of nodes and flows, and the ways of relating two visualizations. We evaluate the proposed classification scheme using published visualization examples and show that it is effective and expressive.
There is undoubtedly something like a ‘grammar of graphics’. Various syntactic principles can be identified in graphics of different types, and the nature of visual representation allows for visual ...nesting and recursion. We propose a limited set of possible ‘building blocks’ for constructing graphic spaces, and a limited set of possible syntactic functions of graphic objects. Based on these ingredients, and the rules for their combination, the syntactic structure of any visual representation can be drawn as a hierarchically nested tree. We claim that the presented visual syntax applies to all types of visual representations.
Since the movement data exist, there have been approaches to collect and analyze them to get insights. This kind of data is often heterogeneous, multiscale and multi-temporal. Those interested in ...spatio-temporal patterns of movement data do not gain insights from textual descriptions. Therefore, visualization is required. As spatio-temporal movement data can be complex because size and characteristics, it is even challenging to create an overview of it. Plotting all the data on the screen will not be the solution as it likely will result into cluttered images where no data exploration is possible. To ensure that users will receive the information they are interested in, it is important to provide a graphical data representation environment where exploration to gain insights are possible not only in the overall level but at sub-levels as well. A dashboard would be a solution the representation of heterogeneous spatio- temporal data. It provides an overview and helps to unravel the complexity of data by splitting data in multiple data representation views. The adaptability of dashboard will help to reveal the information which cannot be seen in the overview.
Flow maps have long been servicing people in exploring movement by representing origin-destination data (OD data). Due to recent developments in data collecting techniques the amount of movement data ...is increasing dramatically. With such huge amounts of data, visual clutter in flow maps is becoming a challenge. This paper revisits flow maps, provides an overview of the characteristics of OD data and proposes a classification system for flow maps. For dealing with problems of visual clutter, 3D flow maps are proposed as potential alternative to 2D flow maps.
In the beginning of the 1920s Austrian philosopher and sociologist Otto Neurath developed a diagrammatic language (Isotype) that uses simplified pictures and composition rules to convey social and ...economic statistical data to a general public. A current trend in the information visualization community is the presentation and sharing of information graphics via the World Wide Web (e.g. Gapminder, Google Earth Outreach). In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to work in which statistical diagrams played a key role in raising public awareness (Al Gore’s campaign concerning the Inconvenient Truth about global warming). In this paper we explore what these recent uses of graphic representations share with Neurath’s idealism about visual education in terms of access to information, empowerment and the assumed benefits of the visual. We also address how digital media have amplified these concepts, and we propose three different categories of ‘diagrams for the masses’.
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