We recently launched the Raindrop web application as part of FLOW: Can You See the River, a project conceived by Mary Miss. Our team started on the project about a year ago, when Mary and her studio began meeting with us and scientists from Butler University and Williams Creek Consulting to build an app illustrating the concept that “All property is riverfront property.” When Mary and I began discussing the project, we talked about the challenge of catching a person’s attention and then engaging them with a visual experience that could lead them to deeper levels of information and insight about the natural world. This is essentially what a good visualization does, so I was excited to be part of the team building this technological bridge between art and science.

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Filed under: Technology

A few weeks ago, I was doing a little research to plan a trip to Japan next year. One of the most enjoyable times to visit is in spring during hanami (flower viewing) season, when the sakura (cherry blossoms) bloom. I found a really interesting Japanese site run by Weathernews that utilizes prediction methods based on temperature trends as well as photos of budding sakura trees taken by everyday people to inform the public about the southwesterly progression of the “sakura wave.” It’s one of the most interesting uses of crowdsourcing that I’ve seen. They even have a simulator, where you can review the multiple-day, countrywide blooming event from a virtual satellite view. Judging from observations to date, it’s time for everyone in Kyushu to get out their picnic baskets.

Photo by gullevek via Flickr

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Filed under: Horticulture, Technology

It has come to my attention that the tweets are out of the bag about the new interactive admissions map on the IMA dashboard. The map is a mashup of our admissions data using the Google Maps API and a zip code demographics resource called ZIPskinny. I thought that I would take some time today to discuss the art and science of colormap selection that went into developing this visualization.

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Filed under: Design, Technology