VizWorld.com

Nathan Yau over at FlowingData has a great writeup on visualization, based on his experience as a week-long “Visiting Scholar” at the US Census Bureau.  They’re trying hard to boost their visualization (where else would they have so much data to play with?!), so he had the opportunity to sit with lots of people, both experts and novices.

This is probably the most common one. It’s easy to look at a lot of the best visualization projects and want your data to look and feel the same way. So people ask, “I have such and such data. Is there a visualization technique that I can use to make it look cooler?”

Well, maybe. Not if you only have five data points though. You can spend a lot of time with icons or fancy print, but the graphics are interesting because the data that the visuals represent is interesting.

via 5 misconceptions about visualization.

Science census

GE’s Visualizing.org contest to visualize the 2010 US Census data has come to a close, and the lucky winner is Jan Willem Tulp with some truly beautiful visualizations like the one above.

Check out the images below, of winner Jan Willem Tulp’s visualization, “Ghost Counties,” which focuses on homeowner data from the Census to create an arresting perspective on the subprime mortgage crisis. Like the best data visualizations, they have an artistic beauty separate from any informational utility. To learn how the striking forms below illustrate housing data by county and by state, click here.

Hit their website for some more impressive graphics.

via Behold the Winning Entry in GE’s Visualizing.org Census Data Challenge | GE Reports.

Graphics, Science census, contest, ge

The U.S. Census Bureau has released the data from its population count. This is important because seats in the House of Representatives are based on the population count for a state. It is expected that Texas will be the big winner this year, picking up an additional four seats in the House. Florida will gain two seats, while Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington will each gain one seat.

Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will each lose one seat. But it could be worse. They could have lost two House seats like Ohio and New York.

California is not gaining a seat in the House for the first time ever.

Above is an interactive graphic from the U.S. Census Bureau. Thus far, 2010 data has not been incorporated into the graphic, although that is likely to happen soon.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the 2010 Census showed the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2010, was 308,745,538.

The resident population represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 U.S. resident population of 281,421,906.

via : 2010 Census Data

Graphics census

“Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers … . The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

– Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States

Every 10 years, the United States Constitution mandates a head count of every American. This enumeration is important because it is used to determine how many seats in the House of Representatives each state will receive. It can also mean billions of more dollars for one state over another. VisualEconomics has published an infographic on the United States census.

The US Census does a lot more than just count population. Here’s a breakdown of what it does and its progress through the years.

A Breakdown of the 2010 Census

Read more…

Graphics census, infographic

After the 1870 census, cartographers and researchers analyzed the data and created some spectacular infographics with nothing but pen and paper.  Available on record in the Library of Congress, Radical Cartography has published the spectacular compilation of graphics on their website for viewing in JPEG format.  It’s amazing how much they were able to do without the aid of modern computers to crunch the numbers.  Maps, charts, box diagrams, and more.

Unfortunately, the RadicalCartography site is under some pretty heavy load thanks to a link from BoingBoing.net, so I’ve mirrored the low-res versions of the graphics below for you to see.  Enjoy!

These images are BIG, most of them around 1500 x 2000, so those on slow connections or small monitors may want to be careful about which thumbnails they click on. Radical Cartography has ZIP files for download

Read more…

Graphics, Science census, government, history, infographic

An interesting website called “TownMe” has come onto the internet that merges Google Maps with census data in a clever and interesting way.  Enter a city, and then see your city overlaid with a heatmap indicating concentrations of “Yuppies”, “Cougars”, “Sugar Daddies”, “Starving Students”, “Baby Mommas” or “Baby Daddies”, or simply “People overextending themselves on rent”.  The image above is a visualization of Starving Students in Austin, TX. It’s entertaining, and surprisingly accurate.   Each city is giving a numerical rating, and areas within the city are ranked on the side for the chosen category.

The site is still under active development, and the developers have contacted me asking for ideas and comments.  So if you have thoughts on new areas or features to consider, Post em here!

Science census, google, heatmap, map, statistics, townme