In+ersec+ion for Spatial People

Internet monitoring company Renesys has graphed server uptime for the east coast during the week of Hurricane Sandy. The blog entry has details, but it is notable that they have divided the map into a grid squares of one tenth of a degree. I like the map, but dark/light would help as would weather animation. Also, some indication of server density in a grid cell would be welcome!

[Disclaimer: I do not work for FlightStats, but I have met some of them.] FlightStats has put up a heat map animation of airport disruptions during Hurricane Sandy. This map does have weather, but I think it could use some shading for day/night. Sometimes the flight data looks a bit like the hurricane data, but I think it's a noble effort to summarize complicated information.

To me, both maps show how interconnected modern society is and how data streams can be used to understand the scope of an event.

That's the name of a recent O'Reilly article, Visualization deconstructed: Why animated geospatial data works.

From the article: "Sebastien shared a great quote, attributed to Paul Butler, which read: "Visualizing data is like photography. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, you manipulate the lens used to present the data from a certain angle." [...] Central to the impact and effectiveness of these designs is the simple animation of the data over time. Some exist with just a play/pause button; others have more interactive options to control the speed, flow and progress of the timeline. For the viewer, there is palpable excitement when anticipating how the patterns will evolve; when the data spread will increase or decline; when the data activity will speed up or slow down; and when it will pop up in new, previously uncharted territories."