I tend to post a wide array of subjects from the data spectrum, so I know all of you come from different view points and areas of study. Some are in academics, and others are casual readers. Some work with data for a living while others are more about design.

So why do you read FlowingData? Punch in your answer in the poll below.

Andy Woodruff from Cartogrammar uses average color in Flickr photos to map the colors that people take the most pictures of. The above for example, shows the common colors of Harvard Square. Why all the red? It’s because there’s so many brick buildings.

So in the end is a map that provides a different geographic view of what we’re used to seeing. We’re used to seeing the aerials or the designer-defined color coding of roads and land. This however, while portrayed as a view from above, is what people are seeing on the ground.

You know the Roomba from iRobot? It’s the robot vacuum cleaner that is supposed to do the work on its own so that you don’t have to. I’ve seen video of the thing picking up dirt and junk but I’ve always been skeptical that it would cover all areas.

Well the above, from Signal Theorist, is the Roomba coverage over a half an hour. A camera was setup, the lights were turned off, and the above is a long exposure shot of the Roomba’s path. Not bad huh?

[via Simple Complexity]

The above graphic shows missions to mars starting in 1960 to present (top to bottom). Paths are colored by country, and as you can see it’s been a lot of missions from Europe and the United States lately. Obviously the farthest we’ve gone is with the rover with more to come.

(I couldn’t figure out where the graphic originally came from. Anyone know?)

[via Fast Company | Thanks, Travis]

You gotta love Jessica Hagy. If you’ve got the skills you should be able to widen the valley in that curve significantly.

Have a nice weekend all.

[via Cool Infographics]

A BIG thank you to our sponsors. You keep FlowingData running smoothly, make it possible for projects like your.flowingdata and FlowingPrints to come alive, and most importantly, allow FlowingData to grow. We saw some 350k views this month and are quickly coming up on 25k RSS and email subscribers. Yikes.

Xcelsius Present — Transform spreadsheets into professional, interactive presentations.

NetCharts — Build business dashboards that turn data into actionable information with dynamic charts and graphs.

InstantAtlas — Enables information analysts to create interactive maps to improve data visualization and enhance communication.

Tableau Software — Data exploration and visual analytics for understanding databases and spreadsheets that makes data analysis easy and fun.

IDV Solutions — Create interactive, map-based, enterprise mashups in SharePoint.

Email me at nathan [at] flowingdata [dot] com if you’d like to sponsor FlowingData, and I’ll get back to you with the details.

FlowingData readers who have been around for a while will remember I made a map early this year that showed the growth of Target stores across America. It starts with the first one in 1962 and then goes from there. It was a follow-up to the Walmart map, which I shared the code and data for.
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I think ever since visualization got started, people have been asking this question.

Some… okay, many describe it as purely an analytical tool. Others (i.e. me) are a little more liberal with their use of the term while the rest are somewhere in between. Some insist that the stuff we see on information aesthetics belong in an entirely different category and that that stuff isn’t visualization at all.

As art, science, design, statistics, computer science, etc. start to melt together, the line between what is and isn’t visualization grows more blurry.

What do you think? Is visualization only analytical? Can visualization be art? Are the infographics that frequent the front page of Digg visualization or are they just pretty pictures? Can visualization be just a pretty picture? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

GOOD magazine’s most recent transparency contest asked designers to focus their powers on showing CEO compensation in the United States.
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Jer Thorp, an artist and educator from Vancouver, Canada, visualizes when people “wake up” on Twitter, or when they say good morning, rather. Here it is in its 3-d globe glory. It’s called GoodMorning!. Notice the wave.

Okay, wait, I know you’re already furiously leaving or thinking about a comment on how absolutely useless and non-concrete this is – and Jer is the first to admit that – but there is obviously something to learn here.

However, it’s late, and I’m tired, so I’ll leave that up to you. But off the top of my head, I’m thinking a more relevant subject like disease or need of help and color coding that’s more meaningful. Your turn.

[via datavisualization.ch]

Haha, Jason Segel is hilarious. In this episode of How I Met Your Mother Segel’s character Marshall has an interesting addiction that I think many FD readers can relate to.
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Ben Fogarty uses a stacked area chart to represent his life. To us outsiders looking in it’s not much more than that, but to Ben I am sure there is a story in every peak and valley. It’s like a “this is your life” slideshow in data.

This is the drive behind your.flowingdata. I don’t think YFD is even remotely close yet to developing a personal narrative, but it’s something to shoot for. I can imagine a lifetime of data replaying and watching it unfold like a movie. That’d be amazing. Then again, I might also end up like Jerry in Act 3 of Episode 88 in This American Life. Fingers crossed for the former.

[via WeLoveDataVis]

10/GUI, a prototype interface by R. Clayton Miller, is a new way of interacting with the computer. We’re all familiar with touch screens, but what Miller proposes is separating the touch from the screen and bringing your hands back to where you normally would use a keyboard and a mouse.
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Like I said, data graphics that aren’t interactive are a lot better in print. I’m not sure what it is exactly but it’s the same feeling as holding a physical book in your hands over reading an electronic version online. It just feels right.
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The Stock Ticker Orbital Comparison, or STOC for short, from media student James Grant, uses a planetary system metaphor to display activity with the S&P 500. Each circle represents a stock and they orbit a planet-like (or sun?) thing in the middle.
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What would a freshman English class be without Of MIce and Men? No George or Lenny? People in Appomattox, Virginia seem to think it’d be just fine.

The National Coalition Against Censorship, however, has different ideas on the matter. For the past couple of years the NCAC has confronted such bans and challenges from libraries and curricula. Above is a map of bans and challenges over from December 2006 to May 2009. Other notable works include The Golden Compass, Girl, Interrupted, and yes, brace yourself, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

[via DataViz]

While on the topic of job loss and unemployment, here’s an animated map from Tip Strategies that shows job gains and losses over time.

Red means loss and green means gain, and as you can see above, there isn’t much green (read that zero) on the map. The larger the circle is, the greater the number of net loss or gain compared to that of the numbers of the year before in the respective metropolitan statistical area.
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As we all know, many people, much more than usual, have lost their jobs during the past few years. Visual Economics shows layoffs and changes in unemployment rate by industry over the last year. Obviously manufacturing has taken a huge hit along with construction.

Health care and social assistance has also seen a lot of mass layoffs, but that one I don’t really get. I’ve been under the impression there was high demand in that area. Maybe I’m wrong.

In any case, one thing that I would definitely change in this graphic, other than getting rid of those out-of-place icons, is the percent change for unemployment rate.

I thought to myself, “That bar for 2009 is over twice as tall and it’s not even a 100% increase?” Then I realized they were percentage differences, which isn’t as important the actual percent change of the rates.

Then we’d see that the unemployment rate for manufacturing has increased over 140% and for construction it’s gone up over 120%.

[Thanks, Jason]

Again, FlowingData had another record month in terms of growth, and I cannot thank you all enough for reading and spreading the word. Thank you. We’ve got quite the community developing here.

In case you missed them, here are the top posts from the past month ranked by a combination of page views, comments, and trackbacks:

1. What Visualization Tool/Software Should You Use? – Getting Started
2. Highs and Lows of Being a Young Man
3. 3 In-depth Views of Flight Delays and Cancellations
4. The World of Seinfeld
5. Vintage Infographics From the 1930s
6. Ben Fry Visualizes the Evolution of Darwin’s Ideas
7. Stimulus Funding Map is ‘Slick as Hell’
8. 10 More Infographic Reasons Why You Should Go Green
9. A Road Map to Success
10. TV Size Over the Past 8 Years

From the Forums

And here’s some of the good stuff that’s been going on in the forums in no particular order.

• Visualization/analysis tool for SSH/FTP stats – ina.Cirdaye wants your thoughts on his new tool.
• Notable Political Visualizations – How has visualization played a role in making (important) decisions in government?
• Visual Metrics to Inform: Petro-Wealth Importance
• Animated Bar Chart for CO2 emissions
• Sunlight Foundation is Looking for Data Viz Specialist – Work towards a more transparent government.

Do you have a data visualization question or have something data-ish to share? The FlowingData forums is the best place to do it, especially since I (really) suck with email now.

Like I mentioned before, Robert Kosara (EagerEyes), Andrew Vande Moere (information aesthetics) and I are hosting a workshop on Visualization on the Web this Sunday (October 11) in Atlantic City as a part of VisWeek. So if you’re in town, make sure you drop by.

We accepted topic proposals earlier last month, and those will be presented (briefly) during the workshop, and we’ll break into discussion from there. It’ll be an informal event.

Even if you didn’t submit a paper or register, you’re welcome to join. Everyone is welcome. There should be plenty of space.

Find more information on EagerEyes. Remember, this Sunday, October 11, 2:00-5:30.