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Interactive federal statistical data Interactive federal statistical data on the Web using “nViZn”on the Web using “nViZn”
Jon Hurst*, Jürgen Symanzik,
Lacey Gunter
Utah State University
*email: [email protected]
Web site: www.jonathan.hurst.name/academic
ContentsContents
Background InformationOur softwareSummary
Background Background >> NSF Digital government NSF Digital government ProgramProgram
Mission: “explore and develop new information technologies that will improve the way government serves the American people.”
Digital Government Quality Graphics initiative: disseminate federal statistical data over the Internet in more usable and understandable forms.
Resources: http://www.diggov.org
http://www.geovista.psu.edu/grants/dg-qg/intro.html
Background Background >> Micromaps Micromaps
Micromap is short for ‘linked micromap plot’. First presented in 1995 by Olsen, Carr, Courbois, and
Pierson Help focus the viewers attention on the geographical
significance of the data. Resources:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/who/cocteau/newsletter/index.html
Example of a linked Example of a linked
micromap plotmicromap plot
Background Background >> Interactive micromaps on Interactive micromaps on the Internetthe Internet
Planned, but never used, for the EPA Cumulative Exposure Project (CEP)
USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service uses ‘pseudo’ interactive micromaps
http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/sumpant.htm The National Cancer Institute plans on using them in a
web site to be made available this year. http://statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/micromaps/
Our Software Our Software >> Overview Overview
Goals— Easy access Concise display of the CEP data Understandable to a non-statistical audience
Solutions— Software accessible from the Internet “nViZn” SDK Interactive drilldown maps, micromaps, and tables
Our Software Our Software >> “nViZn” “nViZn”
A commercial, Java-based SDK for visualization and analytics
Successor to the GPL Based on Wilkinson’s The Grammar of Graphics Includes libraries and sample code and applications Resources: http://www.spss.com/nViZn/
Our Software Our Software >> Background Background
Where possible, based on samples provided with “nViZn”
Built on the previous code written by Lacey Jones Currently a prototype for an Internet application (such as
would have been used by the EPA CEP) Final version?
Our Software Our Software >> Interface Interface
Drilldown map Interactive tables Interactive micromaps Meta displays
Live demo (slides that follow are of images outlining the live demo)
Drilldown Map
Interactive table—Massachusetts benzene concentrations sorted by minimum values.
Interactive table—New York benzene concentrations sorted by mean values.
Micromap—New Mexico benzene concentrations sorted by median values.
Micromap—California lead concentrations sorted by mean values.
Comparisons between micromaps—Washington & Oregon median acrylic acid values.
Our Software Our Software >> Implementation Implementation >> Data Data
Data is a duplicate of the EPA CEP data—hierarchical file structure
148 HAPs modeled for 60,000 census tracts according to 1990 data
Organized by FIPS codes Outdated compared to
databases ArcInfo gen files required for
micromaps
Our Software Our Software >> Implementation Implementation >> “nViZn” “nViZn”
“nViZn” libraries handle the data, analytics They also handle the creation of all graphics, and Interaction with the graphics
A knowledge of Java is required Simple graphs are quick and easy Interactive applications are long and dirty
Our Software Our Software >> Implementation Implementation >> “nViZn” “nViZn”
Code for using “nViZn” is usually concise The learning curve is steep
Our Software Our Software >> Implementation Implementation >> SummarySummary
About 2,000 lines of code About 200 hours for someone familiar with programming,
but having never used Java or “nViZn”
Our Software Our Software >> Missing features Missing features
Database connectivity—“nViZn” libraries support database connections
Applet enabled—currently it is a stand-alone application
Summary Summary >> “nViZn” “nViZn”
Good communication with users Takes the dirty work out of graphics Very robust Huge potential for use with Federal statistical data, and
especially geographically referenced data Training offered by SPSS
Summary Summary >> “nViZn” “nViZn”
Poor documentation In some instances, no documentation or samples for
features Desperately needs a manual Development time was unnecessarily long due to the
lack of information
SummarySummary
Usability study needed: how do non-statisticians understand these displays
