Hi Xiaoji,

first of all, I really, really, like the art of visualization you are producing.
It’s amazing.

What kind of software do you use?
If you do it with Processing, how many time do you need for such a masterpiece?

Lg, J.D.

Thanks
Basically I use whatever solution that generates results fast, considering the nature of the data and expected deliverables. I use Excel, Ilustrator, R, Processing, Flex, OpenFrameworks, Protovis, etc.
The most time-consuming work is cleaning up the data and preparing it for visualization. Making static images usually take a few hours. Videos and interactive apps take longer – about 1 week from raw data to final product.

Thank you. Basically, I am a programmer doing scientific calculations. At my department, we are only using VisIt for Visualization.
What inspires me, is that your work is done with so much love. You really think about what you do and you do it. I was staggered by the pictures above and I know that this isn’t just a simple Excel chart.

Lg, J.D.

P.S.:
(Don’t wonder that the email address changed. The first one was a mistake.)

Thanks for the compliment. I guess scientists and designers have different concerns when it comes to visualization. As a designer I do think a lot about how to communicate my intentions to the general public. It is proved that visualization is very effective in shaping people’s mental models and influencing their behaviors.
In my lab I work together with network scientists. Aside from final representation I also build tools for them to browse data and validate models. I help them in developing and selling research, and their works inspire new visualization ideas. A lot of fun. Maybe your department should try hiring a designer at some point.

Not a bad idea, I will give my boss a hint .
Personally, I even think of math in terms of design. Some people think, it’s only about calculations, but it’s more about understanding, and understanding is about design. I am inspired if I see two different designs which fit together. This is like seeing two sides of an equation (like the divergence theorem). These designs then build a network of ideas and this gives us new insights .
I like design . You may know Hans Rosling. He’s doing a great job in visualization of statistics. He also changed my point of view of parts of the world. If you don’t know him you have to visit the Gapminder-Site (http://www.gapminder.org).

Lg, J.D.

That’s a really beautifull way of visualisation. I can imagine that cleaning up the data takes a lot of time!

[...] addition to mapping travel time and carbon footprint of travel modes, Chen also visualized air pollution in Chinese cities and created a video showing the network of human interactions in Great [...]

I really like your visualisation! There is just so much potential for freeing up all this data, especially what’s available in China… Was the data you used found in an accessible format or did you have to pre-process it several times around before it could be used?

I parsed this webpage http://datacenter.mep.gov.cn/report/air_daily/airCityMain.jsp
It’s a pity most public data do not come in ready format.

真好，立体极了，让人有种横看成岭侧成峰的感觉
PS：太原的空气质量看起来改善了不少啊，只是冬季冷了倒没办法

Cool, thanks! Datacenter… That’s intriguing.

Hi there,

Nice graph!

Which package/function in R you used to draw these spirals?

Thanks!

I tried a few polar plot libraries, but they were not customizable enough. I ended up writing my own — the graph was not very complex anyway.

Awsome job, I’m curious how to get the data.