Every Olympics since 1936 has had a series of pictograms (i.e. icons that look like restroom signs) that represents the events. Here are pictograms for the Vancouver games, and here they are for the Beijing Olympics. Some series are distinct while others clearly sucked it up. Designer Steven Heller discusses the evolution of these Olympic pictograms in this video for The New York Times. Which set do you like best?
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The Economist discusses the return of big government and includes this graph showing total government spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. We see a dip in 2000 and a big jump this past year.

The trouble is that the country labels are cluttered. If you read them left to right, you get mixed up initially. Keep your eyes left and move top to bottom, and you might be okay.

The Challenge

Can you think of a way to make this graph easier to read? Is there a better way to represent the time series?

One catch: you have to work within the size limitation of 290 pixels wide and 300 pixels tall. It’s an easy fix with unlimited space. But what can you do when space is scarce? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

P.S. I was looking for the data this graph uses but got tired of using the OECD stat browser, so we’ll just have to use our imagination for this one.

[Thanks, Justin]

Update: Here’s GDP (sans spending) by country from 1995 to 2008 if anyone would like to take a wack [thanks, Kim].

The Natural Science Museum of Barcelona has a growing database of 50,000 records of specimens collected over the past 150 years. Bestiario explores this data in their biodiversity treemap and geographical map.
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A good portion of my time in high school was spent trying to get into college. The rest of the time I was trying to look cool while doing it. Now of course I know better and fully embrace the inner geek. I’ll never know what life would’ve been like had I thrown caution to the wind back then, but I’m guessing it would’ve been something like this.
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I’m transitioning to a new server right now, and let me tell you. Moving three years’ worth of files and content is no fun at all. Where’s a sysadmin when you need one? I’m also realizing how out-dated some of my software is, so like any move – in the physical world or digital – I’m in the process of upgrading everything. Bear with me. It might be a bumpy ride.

If you catch something that’s a bit off, please do let me know in the comments. I’ll really appreciate it. Thanks.

In 1926, Fritz Kahn illustrated man as a working factory in his famous poster, Man as Industrial Palace. Tiny guys in each body system perform their own specific job. A camera man controls the eyes, groups of thinkers sit up top, and the guys at the bottom handle the dirty work.
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Open data is great, but it’s useless if you don’t know what to do with it. Sunlight Labs, a group focused on using technology to support open government, recently released ClearMaps. It’s an Actionscript framework for interactive cartographic visualization.

In addition to giving designers and developers more control over presentation the project aims to address some of the common technical challenges faced when building interactive, data driven maps for the web. ClearMaps is designed as a lightweight, flexible set of tools for building complex data visualizations. It is a framework not a plug-and-play component (though it could be a starting point for those wishing to make reusable tools).

It’s still in the early stages, but developers will want to check this out I am sure.

[Thanks, Kevin]

A big thank you to FlowingData sponsors. They help keep the blog running and well, let me do what I do here. Check out what these fine groups have to offer. They help you put your data to use.

Tableau Software – Data exploration and visual analytics in an easy-to-use analysis tool.

InstantAtlas – Create and present compelling data reports on geographic maps.

Xcelsius Engage – Create insightful and engaging dashboards from any data source with point-and-click ease.

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Xcelsius Present – Transform spreadsheets into professional, interactive presentations.

Email me at nathan [at] flowingdata [dot] com for sponsorship details. All spots are currently filled, but you are welcome to put your group’s name on the waiting list.

ITO world, who you might remember from a year of OpenStreetMap edits, come back to the map visualization to show the efforts of an impromptu community and Crisis Mappers to produce the most complete and accurate map of Haiti following the earthquake.
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This graphic from designer Stephen Taubman is entertaining in so many ways. It is based on the amazing story of Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, one of the greatest movies ever made. I’ve never seen it, but after you watch the clip below, you’ll be running to find a copy.
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The National Science Foundation announced the 2009 winners of their annual visualization challenge. As usual it’s mostly scientific visualization of biological organisms and phenomena speckled with a few data-focused entries. The above, for example, took first place in the photography category. It’s a picture of tiny fibers, nanometers in diameter, wrapping around a plastic ball while immersed in evaporating liquid.
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Add another book to the growing library of guides on how to make information graphics the right way. Dona M. Wong, former graphics director of The Wall Street Journal and now strategy director for information Design at Siegel+Gale, provides the dos and don’ts of data presentation in The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics.

First Impressions

Given Wong’s background, you can make a pretty good guess about the examples used. They’re not graphics from The Journal but they do look a lot like them. The book description also makes a point of highlighting that Wong was a student of Edward Tufte, which was a big hint on what the book is like.
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After the county map tutorial a few months ago, I decided to write more how-to posts. Since then, with the new tutorials, it’s been great seeing the excitement over visualizing your own data. So now, a question for you.

What visualization tutorials do you want to see next?

Obviously I can’t teach everything since I still have plenty to learn myself, but I’ll be sure to give everything a try. Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

The Obama administration just posted a graph showing monthly job loss from December 2007 (Bush in red) up to last month. Discuss.

[via @nickbilton]

Update: There’s a video version now [via infosthetics].
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Tableau Software, popular for making data more accessible, mainly in the business sector, just opened up with Tableau Public. The application is similar in spirit to other online data applications like Many Eyes and Swivel. It lets you share data and visualizations online. However, Tableau Public doesn’t have a central portal or a place to browse data. Rather it’s focused on letting you explore data and stitch modules together on your desktop and then embed your findings on a website or blog.
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The Olympics are in full swing, so of course Twitter is abuzz with every big event. Want to keep track of the trends in real-time? Watch the Olympic pulse, by Stamen Design, on the NBC site.
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Tales around the Web for everyone’s favorite holiday.

Obligatory Valentine’s Day map – Aww, how sweet. Indiemapper sends its love in what else, map form, and even accompanied by the proper equations.

Science Valentine – Stick man of xkcd writes a valentine with just the data. This is what happens when you only let your brain lead. As they say, lead with your heart… and you won’t end up a boring sack of facts who no one likes. [thanks, all]

Love on the (Facebook) wall – It’s the greatest love story of all time. Woman gets divorced. Old friend comments on her wall. Comment turns to chat, chat turns to text, and text turns to phone call. Man proposes to woman via comic.

RIT student Nikki Graziano photographs math functions in the real world. Some are a stretch but others are dead on.
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