Eric Rodenbeck explains information visualization as a medium
Eric Rodenbeck of Stamen Design has a long history in the field of interactive design, and he was able to distill some of his insights to attendees of Web Directions North on Thursday. Rodenbeck pointed to the New York Times and their interactive maps ranging from the red and blue state breakdown of the 2004 US election to oil supply across the world.
Data visualization is a medium, Rodenbeck said, and can be live, vast, and deep. He pointed to a project he worked on called cabspotting, which used GPS data from San Francisco taxi cabs. Users were able to watch swarms of cabs in real time, and real-time analysis could also be applied to the data, with the end result that it was possible to chart out the most intensely used cab routes, as well as examine cab routes over periods of time.
Rodenbeck also showcased Oakland Crimespotting, which applies crime statistics to maps and allows users to chart out what crimes happen in which neighbourhoods, as well as charting out crime rates over time.
Other apps that use innovative visualization tools are Digg Swarm and Digg Stack, which chart out how Digg users pick top stories and which topics are more likely to be dugg.
