India maps, sites, begin to track swine flu August 14, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Collaboration, Visualization, pandemic.Tags: H1N1, India
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As India copes with the spread of swine flu, we are beginning to see a more forms of collaboration.
This site was put together not be people in healthcare, but by some Indian techies.
After one of them got sick, and fanatically searching for information about the virus and testing, they decided to ‘bridge the information gap’ and put together the site. It has contact information for hospitals and quarantine centers in several cities etc.
- Another map lets you check the number of documented cases.
- Google’s Flu Tracker now has more detailed views (as the one above).
Here at the Decision Theater, we have moved into a new phase of using visualization as a planning tool for emergency planning exercises. Software that enable training of healthcare workers, volunteers and those planning the logistics of dispensing medication or treatment in the event of an outbreak.
Visualization by itself is not enough, unless it is (a) connected to data and has the ability for people to input data to make it smarter; (b) it lets you adjust behaviors to make intelligent responses.
Building maps, finding connections March 1, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Arizona State University, Collaboration, Energy & Climate, Events, Networking, Visualization.1 comment so far
As any geographer will tell you, mapping is a rich territory, cross-cutting many other sciences not just for showing where things are, but revealing vital connections.
At the Decision Theater, we draw on interactive maps for many of our projects. Geo-spatial mapping sheds light on growth and expansion issues. We used a mapping tool just last week for the pandemic ‘flu exercise, to give participants a sense of what a disease spread would look like on a city-by-city basis.
But mapping can be put to a variety of uses. Arizona State University was just selected to conduct a different type of mapping, selected as one of seven universities to receive a Minerva award for a research project titled “Finding Allies for the War of Words: Mapping the Diffusion and Influence of Counter-Radical Muslim Discourse.” And the Mars space program at ASU has several ways of mapping the surface of the planet, as the image above shows. Check them out!
A few other good maps:
- FEMA maps areas in every state and US territories that are at risk of flooding
- USGS maps geographic boundaries and transportation networks
- NOAA maps flood risk
- BBC has a good interactive map of bird flu spread and human mortality
Should buildings “talk?” January 24, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Design, Energy & Climate, People, Urban Growth, Visualization.add a comment
Would buildings one day communicate with you?
When I ask my colleague Dr. Robert Pahle about the ability to connect a database to a visualization of a city, his answer is “they don’t now, but they should!” If he has his way, they soon will.
He is currently using the City of Tempe model (a very popular 3D model we use here) and embedding it with rich data. Soon anyone would be able to pull up real-time information about a building and look at its footprint, he says –the carbon it generates, the energy it consumes, the number of occupants, the parking spots available in the underground garage etc.
We could take it further, and make that data available online, so you could have that data sent to your Blackberry via a text message –if it is that critical that you have it in near real-time.
We are at an early stage of interacting with our environments. Notice how energy ‘calculators’ are catching on.
- The Global Institute of Sustainability has a great one as part of the Campus Metabolism project.
- The University of British Columbia web site shows the real-time consumption and savings at the Vancouver campus –in terms of copy paper used, greenhouse gases saved etc.
- There are simple ones like this, and carbon footprint calculators, and green building calculators.
Armed with this granular knowledge of our local environments, you could use it to make better decisions, whether it is what school to enroll your child in, which organization to do business with, or which city to set up your factory in.
Holograms that cut carbon footprint: tool or distraction? January 21, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Global, Visualization, sustainability.Tags: MAdsar, Prince Charles, UAE
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The age of holograms is here. We saw a hint of this during the coverage of the US elections. Now it’s being applied to mainstream events, like the ‘appearance’ of Prince Charles at the World Future Energy Summit at Madsar in Abu Dhabi this week.
Dubbed ‘his royal hologram’ the prince decided not to fly to the Middle East after criticism last year about his carbon footprint.
But here’s my question. Do technologies like this serve to highlight the value of carbon reduction, or do they serve as a distraction? Something that gets used not really because they eliminate travel, but because of the cool factor?
There is a precedent here. Not too long ago many wondered about how SecondLife would make it somewhat unnecessary to travel too. Why spend the time and energy on travel, we were told, when we could ‘fly’ there and mingle in a virtual world?
Visualizing Obama’s speech January 20, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Economy, Events, Visualization.Tags: inauguration, Obama, speech
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Of course we did watch the inauguration in the office. We did what most people did on this eventful day –pulled up some chairs, turned all screens to the live coverage, blogged, tweeted and exchanged text messages with others.
I was struck by these words in Obama’s speech, that issues a clear call to action: to
“the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things”
Specifically, to those who would have to”build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines.”
As the above illustration of the tag cloud from his speech illustrates, the emphasis on some words drives home the point about pulling up our bootstraps and moving forward.
American Meteorological Society visits Decision Theater January 6, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Events, Visitors & Attendees, Visualization, Water.Tags: DCDC, WaterSim
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The American Meteorological Society will be holding its annual meeting & Summer Policy Colloquium in Phoenix.
On January 11th, after they tour the past (the Hohokam canal system) and the present (the Granite Reef Underground Storage Project), they stop over here for a look at the future
That future, will include a look at WaterSim, the interactive model of water supply and demand for the metro Phoenix region. WaterSim is a way of looking at water uncertainty in the context of climate, population growth and land use,
Crowdsourcing meets data mapping December 11, 2008
Posted by Angelo in Collaboration, Visualization.Tags: crowdsourcing, datamapping, Everyblock, Ushahidi
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Every week I come across a mapping tool or project that deepens my respect for visualization. Notwithstanding the screen real estate we have here at the Decision Theater, it’s not just the mind-blowing graphics or the ability to render something seamlessly across large surfaces that help people ’see differently.’
Data can create a narrative in amazing ways. Take a look at Ushahidi. It’s what’s referred to as a web-mapping engine that blends crowdsourcing and crisis communication.
Often, information or data is not the hardest thing to come by. It’s connecting the dots, and aggregating/overlaying this data that’s the hard work.
The word Ushahidi is Swahili for ‘testimony.’ The site was created to give us a ‘lesson’:
“the lessons learned from Kenya to create a platform … to gather reports by mobile phone, email and the web – and map them.”
One visualization is a mash-up of Google Earth and data sent in about incidents or rioting, looting, rape, and even peace efforts.
It reminds me of a similar data mapping project some years back called ChicagoCrime.org which (has since then grown up into EveryBlock, featuring data from more cities) was a cartographic project by a journalist, Adrian Holovaty who mashed up Chicago crime stats from the police department, and Google Maps.
Using EveryBlock, people could make better decisions before they move in to a city, accessing granular data such as graffiti clean up, building violations, liquor licences etc, sorting through boroughs, police precincts, zip codes or block by block on streets.
Do you need a special lens to see things differently? December 8, 2008
Posted by Angelo in Visualization.Tags: bio optics
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The fact that we hand out fancy-looking 3D glasses at the door, sometimes conveys the wrong message. We pull up a 3D model of a city or an airport and the virtual experience jumps to life.
But here’s what I am up against. As a presenter in the business of letting people ’see things differently’ glasses are really not required. However:
- The “theater” area we call the ‘Drum’ reminds people of a visit to IMAX — a show-and-tell venue
- The wall-space taken up by large screens prepares people to be ’shown’ something, rather than do something.
- The configuration of the seating in theater style gives them permission to be passive. (We often rearrange the seating in conference style for working groups.)
So despite these wrong cues, I remind people that to “see things differently” they need to alter their perspective by seeing data in larger context. We assist this by tilting the model, zooming out, expanding the charts, moving the slider bar, checking some boxes, adding more layers with Google Earth, and running an animation. Unlike the sterile experience of interpreting data arriving via a 17-inch PC screen, people are able to take in the data in a group setting.
Someday, we may move into new ways of looking at data, individually and collectively, through a smart lens — like this contact lens on the left– embedded with electrical circuitry and sensors that could alter our view of things. A lens that may permit you to look at a complex system in more detail, look through layers, or take in the big picture through a smaller interface.
But for now, minus the polymer-based bio-optics, we take a piece of research and present you with contextual data to help you see the big picture. It’s still mind blowing!
Visual browsing of world news November 24, 2008
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Media, Visualization.Tags: Campus metabolism, GIOS, Newstin
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I have been looking into how a GUI ( geekspeak for ‘graphic user interface’) could enhance a message, and am considering doing some cool interactive, kiosk-type visualizations in our lobby at the Decision Theater. Interactive displays such as the Campus Metabolism project from the Global Institute of Sustainability is one way to do this. It’s a web-based but is much more interesting on a touch-screen in their lobby.
But apart from aggregating data, a GUI could simplify the user experience, for news, as this site called Newstin demonstrates.
Click on the Newstin map, and it basically organizes world news from 166,000 sources, organized into about 1 million topics. Mind you, Newstin was created before the iPhone, so it’s easy to see how a widget could transfer this kind of experience to a mobile device.
Cut to the chase with visualization August 12, 2008
Posted by Angelo in Scenario Planning, Visualization, Water.Tags: Arizona State University, DCDC, Economy, Energy & Climate, Water
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Despite what your position may be on Shell, you have to admit it invests a lot on visualizing the energy future –”more energy, less carbon dioxide”–it is grappling with, for good or ill. This is the stuff that gets churned out in white papers, and high-brow academic gatherings, but doesn’t often trickle down to the hoi polloi. We know by now that spreadsheets and PPT decks make people’s eyes glaze over..
In Shell’s 2050, post-Kyoto energy scenario, the visualization lets you pick a year from 2015 through 2050, and look at several factors that come into play in a planet that will be home to 9.5 billion in 2050; the ‘picture’ looks grim/complicated, even from within the cheerful graphics. It makes you want to do something whether it is to invest in fuel cells or reduce your carbon footprint.
Visualization is that great lens that puts data in context, and moves us to take action, even if it starts off with clicking a button. It can be as simple as being a dynamic feed. Check WorldoMeters.info. The speed at which you ’see’ top-soil erosion taking place, and ‘dollars spent on dieting in the USA’ will give you a jolt!
We use similar, but more complex visualization tools to create scenarios like this at the Decision Theater. The most interesting one, WaterSim, lets people simulate a drought and see the effects on agriculture and lifestyle choices. The challenge is to take this complexity that works well in our immersive environment (the ‘drum’) and render it in a webified environment.
Looking around at so many data-rich web sites, I could see why many sites are begging to be rendered with more visualization. Those of us writing or designing data sheets and white papers will have to recognize some hard realities:
- New platforms. People will use new devices and platforms to interact with our information via small screens, on high-res devices, and those capable of and hungry for animation.
- Audience habits: Readers will demand to ’snack’ on information, before they dig deep. Will our web pages and PDF’s cut to the chase? What’s a ‘media snack?” Check this out.
- Time shifting. Information might be accessed (downloaded, snacked on) via one platform, consumed on another. Will the visual appeal transfer? Quality isn’t the issue, but compatibility. CNN stories watched on a high-def monitor still transfer to grainy formats on YouTube.
Visualization poses many challenges, but they are grood ones, because they force us to distil information, and give it more context.
