Rural Transportation Blog http://www.ruraltransportation.org/ en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 14:19:02 GMT Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss SiteOrganic 60 webmaster@ruraltransportation.org Visualizing Data in Planning http://www.ruraltransportation.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=60460&articleId=19883 Hans Rosling is a global health and poverty researcher, but his approach to statistics might be useful for planners to borrow from. Posted by Carrie Kissel, NADO Senior Program Manager

Planners rely on data and information to develop planning documents and inform strategies, but presenting that information in an interesting way in plans may be challenging.  Demonstrating trends with interactive applications can be an effective way to present data, by showing change over time, telling a story about the region, and helping local leaders and stakeholders visualize how they could connect economic development and planning strategies to a potential future scenario for their communities.

Global health and poverty researcher Hans Rosling provides a model for presenting data in a manner that tells a story that’s easily understood without dwelling on statistics.  Rosling’s short video “200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes” (part of the longer “The Joy of Stats” video) is notable for several reasons:

  • The indicators are explained in terms that have immediate resonance and meaning for viewers
  • Out of 120,000 numbers plotted in the video, just a few countries’ observations are selected for further explanation, so the audience does not need to analyze each statistic to understand the overall trends
  • The information presented connects data to policy decisions that are relevant to Rosling’s work
  • Although the data covers information about the past two centuries, the audience is drawn to think about likely future trends
  • Watching colored dots move is more fun than looking at a series of graphs

Why visual data analysis matters for planning


Rosling’s interest is in global health, but his knack for delivering statistics in a fun way could be replicated using any data that has been collected over time.  For instance, regional transportation planning, Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), or other local, regional and statewide efforts all typically involve local public and private sector leaders, stakeholder groups, and the public, who could be included in the process in a variety of ways.  Presentations at public meetings or web-based outreach conducted for these planning processes could borrow such data visualization methods to really engage people in important planning efforts and generate meaningful feedback to proposals as well as dynamic relationships that help to implement strategies contained within an adopted plan.

That model for analyzing data visually is also scalable—if information is available, it could be analyzed from the national, state, regional or local levels across geographies, or to compare local information to national-level trends.  Framing information in a regional plan within a larger geographic context might help to develop plans that transcend local political boundaries and to draw interest and buy-in from state-level players such as legislators or state agency staff.

Visual analysis could be used over different time horizons, as well.  Rosling covered 200 years in only a few minutes.  Used in a planning context, a similar visualization of data over time could provide a framework for thinking about the past months or decades.  If a planning process is oriented at longer-term goals, visual analysis of data could assist decisionmakers and the public to think about future planning horizons, envisioning scenarios that would take place in a decade or two rather than a year or two.  This might help to inform strategies and policy decisions to take a longer point of view.

Do your own visual data analysis


One tool to present trends over time is available for free.  In 2007, Google purchased the software that drives Rosling’s Gapminder application.  Gapminder allows users to experiment with data presentation to learn about trends in global health indicators and create their own animated graphs.  Now available as an embeddable Google Gadget called Motion Chart, similar visualizations to Rosling’s can be created from any data that contains observations over time.  Motion Chart generates ready-made code that can be copied into the body of a webpage to embed data visualization into an organization’s site.  A few other similar applications also exist, including some software applications that have paid and free versions.

Thanks to John Cyr, Kansas Association of Regional Development Organizations, for leading us to Hans Rosling’s work on visual data analysis.]]> Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT http://www.ruraltransportation.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=60460&articleId=19883