How has consumer spending changed over the past 25 years? Do we spend more on some things and spend less on other than we did in the early 80s? In this interactive, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can explore just that.
Read More

November was another good month. We passed the 25k-subscriber mark for the first time, which to be honest, kind of freaks me out when I think about it, but at the same time it’s of course really cool.

Thanks all for spreading the word, and continuing to tweet, email, and bookmark. A big thanks to those who leave comments on FlowingData too. Your contribution makes this place that much better.

In case you missed them, here are the top posts from November based on a combination of pageviews, comments, and links.
Read More

There’s this branch in computer science and statistics for vision research. Normally, if you ever hear about it in the news it’s in the context of spotting terrorists in security tapes or facial recognition checkpoints (you know, like what they have in movies in front of giant steel doors). That is of course not the only application.

Google (and many others) has been playing around with this stuff for a while. Most recently, they released Google Image Swirl in their labs section, which utilizes computer vision to find similar images.

Above is my search for happy cat. The initial search result is what you’re used to. It’s a matrix of thumbnails. Click on one of them, and you’ll get similar images clustered as a network graph.

Google Image Swirl: the new way to find if someone is plagiarizing your work.

[via information aesthetics]

I’m no doubt still under massive food coma at this time, but in case you’ve regained consciousness or don’t live in the US, check out this collection of maps from The Morning News. Can you guess what each is supposed to show? If you can guess even one of them correctly, I’ll be impressed.

[Thanks, William]

Straight to the point. It’s Black Friday. Here’s the deal. Get 1 print for the price of 3. No wait, switch that. Get 3 prints for the price of 1 when you buy the series.

Use this code to take advantage: bfridayfps20

This deal ends on Sunday. Get some prints for yourself or as a gift to your data geek friend or dog today.

Remember: your order will help more prints go to local education.

What is FlowingPrints?

For those new to FlowingData, FlowingPrints is a pet project of mine to put data, well, in print. For this first series, I collaborated with two designers to create three original views of education in America – through data. Check ’em out now. They’ll make your walls ridiculously smart.

Food-wise, Thanksgiving is different across the country. In some places you’re going to get a lot of chitterlings and collard greens, while in others, turkey and mashed potatoes. Personally, I’m a big fan of the 10-course Chinese feast, but to each his own.

The New York Times (Matthew Ericson and Amanda Cox), map what’s cooking in your neck of the woods based on searches on Allrecipes. The top search, concentrated in the southeast, was sweet potato casserole. I have no idea what that is, but it must be delicious.
Read More

What? I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Read More

Verizon has been running these ads lately that compare their 3G coverage to that of AT&T’s. In the ads a Verizon customer walks along on a speedy phone, and a US map pops up that’s covered in red. Later, an AT&T customer looks frustrated with a sparsely-covered AT&T coverage map. You’ve probably seen them by now, but if not, here are the Verizon ones.
Read More

GE and Ben Fry (now the director of SEED visualization), show the cost of getting sick, from the individual’s and insurer’s perspective. The data: 500k records from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from GE’s proprietary database. The visualization: a polar area pie chart.
Read More

This comic was really amusing, although it might be because I’m a big nerd entertained by all things from PHD Comics…

It’s my blog, and I can laugh if I want to.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Thank you to the FlowingData sponsors for keeping the servers alive. Without them, this blog would not be possible, and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.

Check out what they have to offer. They make your data useful:

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.

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.

Interaction designer Christian Swinehart takes a careful look at the popular Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 1980s. We saw something like this before, but Swinehart takes it a step further.
Read More

Imagine a world where data becomes the everyday, simply embedded in what you normally do. It’s really not far off if you think about it. We use charts, graphs, and viz to make important decisions with investments, businesses, and to stay informed on the news, so why not use it in our own lives?
Read More

Photo by Night Owl City

Last week I posted some parallel coordinate plots that related SAT scores and class size. Now it’s your turn to take a crack.

You can find the data that I used (and more) from the National Center of Education Statistics. There’s a link to download the data as an Excel file. You can find pupil/teacher ratios here.

The two best entries each win a copy of David McCandless’ The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia as well as eternal glory on FlowingData. Yes. Eternal.
Read More

David McCandless’ The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia hit the shelves last week (in the US). As I flipped through 320 pages of original graphics during my flight from New York to California, I thought to myself, “FlowingData readers are going to love this.”
Read More

Ever since my hometown Fresno, California was ranked the dumbest city in America (albeit, with a flawed ranking system), the first FlowingPrints series, on the state of education, has taken on new meaning. It became personal, and then it occurred to me that it should be personal for everyone. I think most of us know how important a good education is.

Needless to say, my old high school and middle school now each have a copy of the series. My mom hand-delivered them (thanks, Mom). I’ve also been sending prints to schools, libraries, and education departments across the country near those who have already bought prints for themselves (thanks, all).

But I need more help.

From here on out, until all the prints are gone out of my garage, for every print you buy, I’ll send one to local education. If you simply don’t have any wall space, how about sending the series to a high school near you or your local library? I’ll send another to your local education board.

Get the warm fuzzies, and spread awareness today. For the cost of a few lattes, you’ll be supporting education, your community, and data. Plus, you’ll be getting some beautifully designed prints.

From Herald Daily is this giganto view of land mass and population size by country.
Read More

Sunlight Labs, one of my new favorite data groups, has partnered with Google, RedHat, Mozilla, and several others to get the open source community involved in open government projects. They’re calling it the Great American Hackathon and it’s happening December 12-13.

For those unfamiliar with Sunlight, it’s an organization that promotes open government data and transparency, and they fund technology projects (mainly online apps) that move this idea forward.

Organize an Event

If you’re a developer or designer and want to help out, organize an event in your local area for December 12-13, and get as many people involved as you can. The more we make use of open government data, the more people that will see its usefulness, and the more people that care, the more the government will put into data. Get involved now.