Water Educator Network Symposiumopenwaterfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/... ·...

Water Educator Network Symposium

Innovative Water Education in the 21st Century

Visual storytelling, using technology to share

Colorado’s Water StoriesNovember 17, 2016

Steve Malers, Open Water Foundation

steve.malers@openwaterfoundation.org

www.openwaterfoundation.org

2open water

Open Water FoundationSocial enterprise 501(c)3 nonprofit focusing on developing open source software tools to help make better decisions about water resources. Water is a public resource, and water data and software tools should also be public.

openwaterfoundation.org

3open water

Telling Your Story with Data

“There are two goals

when presenting data:

convey your story and

establish credibility.”

-Edward Tufte

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Tufte

4open water

Make the Complicated…Simple

“Making the simple

complicated is

commonplace.

Making the

complicated simple,

awesomely simple,

that’s creativity”

-Charles Mingushttps://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mingus

5open water

Resource: 2015 Presentation“Water Education through Stories Using Open and Big Data”

2015 Sustaining Colorado’s Watersheds, October 8, 2015

http://openwaterfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SCW-2015-Malers.pdf

(1854) London Cholera outbreak (1858) Where does Paris get its beef?

6open water

Resource: 2016 SMP Presentation“Step 5 – Existing Data Collection / Data as a Platform”

Stream Management Plan Workshop, Aug 23-24, 2016

http://openwaterfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CWC-2016-SMP-Workshop-Step5-Malers.pdf

7open water

Overview of Publishing Story for Web

Your dataset

Someone else’s dataset

Derived dataset

Cloud-hosted dataset

Get your datasets

in order

Context / Credibility / Visualization / Story / (Re)Action

Visualize / Tell Story

Raw Data View

Analytics

Dashboard

Story

Infographic

What is the complexity and

cost (money, effort)?

8open water

Nothing is ever easy…until it is

Simple approach:

“Just tell me what I

need to do”

…but… “you mean I can’t do THAT?”

80/20 rule

Complex approach:

“Learn the

technologies”

…and… “I can do whatever I want”

(until you need to learn more)

9open water

Cloud Data Hosting

• Dropbox

• Google Drive

• Amazon

• Microsoft Azure

• Box

• Many others

• Hosting integrated with visualization

• How to do I load datasets?• How does software get to the datasets?• What are features and limitations?• How much does it cost?• Can I change my mind later?

10open water

data.colorado.gov

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002N4“dataset” = often a table or map layer

11open water

opencolorado.org

12open water

coloradodata.statesales.opendata.arcgis.com

13open water

Cloud Data Hosting for Spatial Data

• DataBasin.org

• ArcGIS Online

• Carto

• MapBox

• Mango

• Google Maps

• Many others

• Can treat as files using file hosting services• How to do I load datasets?• How does software get to the datasets?• What are features and limitations?• How much does it cost?• Can I change my mind later?

14open water

DataBasin.org

National-level

resource

15open water

CDSS and CWCB Map Viewers

Good for locating data, ad hoc queries

Limitation – limited data download, lack of automation

16open water

Stream Mile Representation Framework

Stream mile + Excel = simple

E&R Attributes

Instream Flow Reaches

Projects & Methods

Stream Gages

Diversion Headgates

Organization Extent

Master Plans

and more…

17open water

Citizen Science Platforms

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2015/5015/

http://www.cocorahs.org

Also see citsci.org

High Groundwater

CoCoRaHS

Citizen-reported

precipitation

18open water

Raw Data View

• Graph

• Table

• Simple map

• Static image/page or interactive

• Perhaps with download link

Goal is data access

19open water

Raw Data Example

Annotations go a

long way towards

providing context

20open water

Raw Data Example

Sometimes the data

speaks for itself

21open water

Analytics

“Analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and

communication of meaningful patterns in

data.” - Wikipedia

“Data visualization

communicates insight.”

• Tableau• Zeppelinhub.com• D3.js• Others

22open water

Analytics Example

“raster graph” or

“heat map”

23open water

Analytics Example

24open water

Analytics Example

25open water

Dashboard

• “Dashboards often provide at-a-glance views

of key performance indicators (KPIs) relevant

to a particular objective or business

process.” – Wikipedia

• Often a combination of visualizations.

= real-time-ish data?

26open water

Dashboard Example

27open water

Telling Stories

• Characters – roles, perspective

• Plot

• Narrative point of view

• Purpose: share values, pass

knowledge, generate outcome

http://www.compassonline.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storytelling

28open water

Example Story

29open water

The Most Common Jobs in Each State

1978 1990

2000 2014

http://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/hist-job-map-90/child.html

30open water

Irrigated Agriculture Dry Up

1956 1976

1987 2010Open Water Foundation

31open water

Infographics

“Information graphics or infographics

are graphic, visual representations of

information, data, or knowledge

intended to present information

quickly and clearly.” - Wikipedia

Often include annotations and

clever visualization techniques

“What is urban water use efficiency?”

Groundwater withdrawals

Wholesale

provider

(raw/treated)

Springs

Water

treatment

plant

Wastewater

treatment

plant

Non-potable water

Potable water

Wastewater

Treated wastewater

Distributed

non-potable water

Distributed potable water

Municipal/

Utility

Facility

Commercial,

Industrial,

and

Institutional

(CII)

Residential-Single-family

-Multi-family

Irrigation

only

Resale

entity

Wholesale & agricultural sales

Treated wastewater effluent

Raw water supply

2016-01-31

Urban Water

Provider

System Components

Downstream

Effluent

treatment

plant

System

losses

Treated effluent reuse

Sewage collection system

Surface water diversions

Stormwater

/

stormsewer

Irrigation return flows

Precipitation

Precipitation

or

Upstream

Surface and subsurface (delayed) flows

Surface and subsurface (delayed) flows

Irrigated

Agriculture

Collection /

Detention /

Runoff

Environment

& Recreation

Storage

Self-Supplied

Industry

33open water

The “Snake” Diagram

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/27powerpoint.html

34open water

Colorado Water Economy

http://www.denverwater.org/docs/assets/4bea7503-0237-e833-64a3f4c3447f588c/frwc_econ_report.pdf

“Water and

the Colorado

Economy”,

Front Range

Water Council,

2009

35open water

Rain Barrels

Denver Water

36open water

Virtual Water Balance

37open water

Summary

• Get your data house in order…figure out the

datasets and the data flow.

• Determine the story you want to tell and what

datasets are needed…do you have the datasets you

need?

• Select technologies.

• Visualize dataset(s). Provide context.

• Organize visualizations for impact…as dashboard,

story, etc.

• Keep it relevant…keep investing in new data, better

visualization, technology updates.

• There will be a cost.

38open water

Share ItThe content of this presentation is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

openwaterfoundation.org