If you’re reading this blog, you’ve
probably already heard plenty about the ever expanding presence of data
visualization and infographics. Not just on dashboards and in board rooms, but
out in the real world, on billboards, on fast food cups, virtually everywhere.
Beyond helping to bring some clarity
around KPIs and Corporate Metrics, data, and specifically data visualization,
is being leveraged in every facet of life. Things like “data for good” where
visualization is being used to help resolve world hunger.
But what about in our everyday
lives…at home? Can visualizing data make a difference?
I’m sure we could come up with an
extensive list of examples, but one I want to talk about today is weather
forecasting, especially as it relates to storm tracking.
It seems like just yesterday that
when it came to reporting tornadoes, the news was always reactionary. You only
knew a tornado was in your area if one had been reported from the ground. The
obvious downside to this was there was no warning system. People were often
blindsided. No longer is this the case.
Take a look at the following radar
map:
This one shows a fairly strong storm
system with a pattern in the bottom left (“The Hook”) that is often an
indicator that a funnel cloud has formed, or could be forming. Although
these pictures are older, the same pattern was shown recently as storms passed
through North Carolina. When this pattern is spotted, our local weatherman,
Greg Fischel, will drill down into the following radar visualization that shows
wind direction.
Here, the Red shows wind moving away
from the radar satellite and the green shows wind moving towards the satellite.
As the two wrap around each other, it’s a tell-tale sign that a funnel cloud
has formed. Greg will typically zoom in on the edges to get the wind speeds and
then provide some annotation (arrows) as he has done here to help the casual
viewer understand exactly what is going on.
Having this data allows the local
news to broadcast warnings to individual subdivisions, providing predictions of
when a tornado is likely to hit your precise location with accuracy to the
minute.
So if anyone asks you if data
visualization has ever saved lives, the answer should be YES.
This is just one example of the
power of data visualization. I’d love to hear other examples that you have come
across.
Cheers,
Kevin Taylor
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