MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

The ‘Participatory Web’ and Data Visualisation Tools

Stuart Macdonald

EDINA National Data Centre & Edinburgh University Data Library

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Context

• DISC-UK DataShare

• A JISC-funded collaborative project led by EDINA at the University of Edinburgh, with the University of Oxford, the London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Southampton.

• Explore new pathways to assist academics wishing to share their data over the Internet via Institutional Repositories (IRs)

• Investigate alternative mechanisms for researchers to share data beyond the IR.

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Data Visualisation:

The set of techniques used to turn a set of data into visual insight. It aims to give the data a meaningful representation by exploiting the powerful discerning capabilities of the human eye*.

* Edinburgh Online Graphics Dictionary – http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/rbf/GRDICT/grdict.htm

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

• Programmableweb -http://www.programmableweb.com/tag/mapping - map or spatial mash-up ‘resource discovery tool’

• GeoCommons – http://geocommons.com/ - ‘brings intelligence to the GeoWeb, unleashing tools and data’ (downloadable as CSV, KML, Shape)

• OpenStreetMap – http://www.openstreetmap.org/ free editable map of the whole world - see also Platial, Mapbuilder, Mapufacture

• BODC• SRON & KMNI• U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center• USGS Earthquake Hazards Program

• UNHCR layer in Google Earth – mash together news, images, video, statistical databases relating to refugees across the globe via the “Google Earth Outreach programme” - http://www.unhcr.org/events/47f48dc92.html

Spatial Data Visualisation

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis -develop computing technologies in several disciplines which deal with geography, space, location and the built environment - http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/

• GeoVUE – one of the 7 nodes of the National Centre for e-Social Science set up to develop ‘new kinds of virtual urban environments’ (VUEs) through which users can participate in furthering their understanding of cities

• London Profiler - link publicly available datasets such as Population Census to non-proprietary mapping e.g. visualising a neighbourhood's geodemographic profile using different area classifications through Google Maps - http://www.londonprofiler.org/

• MapTube – a free resource for viewing, sharing, mixing and mashing maps online created by GMapCreator.

• Engage in other forms of collaboration e.g. Virtual London (via Second Life)

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

• …and there’s more

• John Hopkins University’s Interactive Map Tool• Supports digital field assignments allowing users to create custom mashups using a

variety of digital media, text and data – http://www.cer.jhu/index.cfm?pageID=351

• Minnesota Interactive Internet Mapping Project• A mapping application that provides maps and imagery similar to Google Maps –

claims to be data rich, interactive, secure, easy to use, have analytical capabilities - http://maps.umn.edu/

• Research at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona• Researchers mining spatial-temporal data provided by geotagged Flickr photos of

urban locations – http://www.giradin.org/fabien/tracing/

• Thematicmapping.orgThematic Mapping Engine (TME) enables you to visualise global statistics on Google

Earth. The primary data source is UNData - http://blog.thematicmapping.org/

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Numeric Data Visualisation Tools:

• ‘Open’ ethos – anyone can upload/download or use data

• Commercial Services embracing Web 2.0 business models

• Collaborative and participatory – “harnessing collective intelligence”

• The Death of Distance

• Easy to use

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

But …

• Ephemeral nature of web

• Not trusted repositories / archives

• If it’s computer generated and looks good it must be right!

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Numeric Data Visualisation Utilities

http://graphwise.com/

http://numbrary.com/

http://www.swivel.com/

http://www.statcrunch.com/

http://www.data360.org/

http://manyeyes.alphaworks.ibm.com/

http://infochimps.org/

http://graphs.gapminder.org/world/

http://dabbledb.com/

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Comparison of 8 Web 2.0 numeric data visualisation tools

Upload data file

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Horizontal Bar Chart

Pie Chart

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Macro-data Visualisation

• OECD Country Statistical Profiles – OECD statistics in SDMX (Statistical Data Mark-up eXchange) - http://stats.oecd.org/nawwe/csp/default.html

• IMF Data Mapper - http://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/index.php

• Stat@tlas Europe - An online atlas of European statistical themes hosted by the Federal Statistical Office of Switzerland

• Eurostat Tables Graphs Maps (TGM) - an interactive user interface to Eurostat data

• UNData – http://data.un.org/ & UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Data Portal - http://geodata.grid.unep.ch/ - spatial and numeric data visualisation tools

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) - promoting Open

Knowledge in a Digital Age - http://www.okfn.org/.

Open Data Commons – set of legal tools to assist in provision and use of open data:

• Public Domain Dedication Licence (PDDL) - public domain for data/databases

• Open Database Licence (ODbL) – Share-alike for data/databases

Projects: Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) - a registry of open knowledge packages and projects - http://www.ckan.net/

Weaving History - http://weavinghistory.org/ - spatio-temporal visualisation of events

Open Economics - provides open content, data and code related to Economics - http://www.openeconomics.net/

Working groups: Open Environmental Data, Open Geodata

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Wolfram|Alpha & Google Public Data Project

Wolfram|Alpha – ‘Computational Knowledge Engine’ (or giant semantic calculator)

• Data maintained by Wolfram Research – collection of curated and standardised datasets include: astronomical, chemical; geopolitical; financial; biomedical; meteorological • Deploy formulas and algorithms to compute answers for searchers• Not editable nor interactive – output semantically poor (pixel images)•Share prices / weather data delivered in real-time

Google Public Data Project – ‘ a new search feature that makes it easy to find and

compare public data’

• Data from US Bureau of Labour Statistics & US Census Bureau’s Population Division• Deploy Motion Chart* plus other visualisation tools from Gapminder Trendalyzer• Results to search query as interactive and customisable graphs• Data import facility• Soliciting more ‘free, authoritative, high quality’ data from governmental agencies, research institutions * Public use component of Gapminder

– part of the Google Visualisation API

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Google Squared – a Google Labs project – looks for facts from webpages, pulls them

together, and organises them into a table with rows and columns e.g. search for Scottish Islands

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Other Semantic innovations

Powerset - http://www.powerset.com/ (Microsoft)

Hakia - http://www.hakia.com/

Calais - http://www.opencalais.com/ (Reuters)

AdaptiveBlue - http://www.getglue.com/

Twine - http://www.twine.com/ Freebase - http://www.freebase.com/ (Metaweb)

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

• Are such utilities a flash in the pan or here to stay?

• Are they more appealing for researchers than IRs?

• Is such functionality desirable in IRs?

• Do they lack gravitas for academic purposes?

• Can/should institutions support the use of these tools?

• Do such ‘open data’ resources contribute to the ‘Global Database’?

Food for thought ….

MIMAS, University of Manchester, 29 July 2009

Thank You

DISC-UK DataShareStuart.Macdonald@ed.ac.uk