March 21, 2011
I recently submitted a proposal to Visualizar 11, a visualization conference to take place in June at the Medialab Prado, Madrid.  I joined forces with long-time friend and GIS scholar, Ted Drennan.  Here is excerpt from the proposal that we sent in earlier today: Project Proposal: Cartogram Capsule: Time-based Cartogram Visualization/ Interface for Energy Usage As global CO2 emissions continue to rise, it is imperative that energy consumers both in the United States and around the world have the ability to conceptualize energy consumption by means of real-time visualization. In order to maximize conservation efforts and increase political will to invest in renewable/alternative energy production, energy production and consumption should be made viewable on a number of scales: personal (or household), local (by city or municipality), regional (by state or province), and national. Visualization suggests participation – rather than what is traditionally imagined in the production and utilization of energy – consumption – which is symbolized by words, numbers, and simplistic graphs. By visualizing energy use, both producers and users are able to conceptualize the energy system – and by extension, the infrastructure which supports the entire endeavor. For our purposes in this visualization, both the amounts of energy being produced and used, and what is being used to produce the energy are more important than where it was produced and how it was transmitted (which are important, but are not relevant in the visualization).  As such, the visualization we propose is a linear (z-time) three-dimensional model of cartogram projection of the United States (or any country with states, sub-divisions, etc.), which changes along the time axis, morphing the size of the regions as energy usage changes over time.  The visualization would run as a stand-along desktop or (resources permitting) web application, providing the user the ability to highlight a given moment or slice of time within a 20 year range via vertical scroller.  Users could also solo specific regions of interest and toggle between several politically meaningful, energy-related data sets from the US Department of Energy. Theoretical uses include: real time, web-based maps on scales discussed above, useful for: the end user as a self-recognized participant in the energy system, municipal conservation/local energy production, state/provincial interests, and up to regional energy producers and national-level policymakers. Visual Documentation: tim.geoph.com/Proposals/CartogramCapsule_Visualizar11_StuttsDrennan.pdf Resources: US Dept. of Energy, http://www.eia.gov/tools/models/ World Mapper, http://www.worldmapper.org/about.html Cartogram Technique, http://aps.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0401102/ Bios: Tim Stutts is a Code Artist and User Interface Designer, currently living in Barcelona.  He has a Bachelors in Music Technology from California Insitute of the Arts and a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University.  In the past year he has done commercial motion graphics from IBM, Verizon, and AT&T, and interface design for Microsoft, Nike, and numerous other companies.  He hopes through efforts like Visualizar, to give back to the community and establish a more academic presence with his work. Ted Drennan studied international politics and geography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He is currently earning a professional certification from ODU in geographic information science. His interests are using GIS to study community geography, access to local resources, and urban alternative transportation issues. This is his first project using real-time visualized cartography.

I recently submitted a proposal to Visualizar 11, a visualization conference to take place in June at the Medialab Prado, Madrid.  I joined forces with long-time friend and GIS scholar, Ted Drennan.  Here is excerpt from the proposal that we sent in earlier today:

Project Proposal:

Cartogram Capsule: Time-based Cartogram Visualization/ Interface for Energy Usage

As global CO2 emissions continue to rise, it is imperative that energy consumers both in the United States and around the world have the ability to conceptualize energy consumption by means of real-time visualization. In order to maximize conservation efforts and increase political will to invest in renewable/alternative energy production, energy production and consumption should be made viewable on a number of scales: personal (or household), local (by city or municipality), regional (by state or province), and national.

Visualization suggests participation – rather than what is traditionally imagined in the production and utilization of energy – consumption – which is symbolized by words, numbers, and simplistic graphs. By visualizing energy use, both producers and users are able to conceptualize the energy system – and by extension, the infrastructure which supports the entire endeavor.

For our purposes in this visualization, both the amounts of energy being produced and used, and what is being used to produce the energy are more important than where it was produced and how it was transmitted (which are important, but are not relevant in the visualization).  As such, the visualization we propose is a linear (z-time) three-dimensional model of cartogram projection of the United States (or any country with states, sub-divisions, etc.), which changes along the time axis, morphing the size of the regions as energy usage changes over time.  The visualization would run as a stand-along desktop or (resources permitting) web application, providing the user the ability to highlight a given moment or slice of time within a 20 year range via vertical scroller.  Users could also solo specific regions of interest and toggle between several politically meaningful, energy-related data sets from the US Department of Energy.

Theoretical uses include: real time, web-based maps on scales discussed above, useful for: the end user as a self-recognized participant in the energy system, municipal conservation/local energy production, state/provincial interests, and up to regional energy producers and national-level policymakers.

Visual Documentation:

tim.geoph.com/Proposals/CartogramCapsule_Visualizar11_StuttsDrennan.pdf

Resources:

US Dept. of Energy, http://www.eia.gov/tools/models/

World Mapper, http://www.worldmapper.org/about.html

Cartogram Technique, http://aps.arxiv.org/abs/physics/0401102/

Bios:

Tim Stutts is a Code Artist and User Interface Designer, currently living in Barcelona.  He has a Bachelors in Music Technology from California Insitute of the Arts and a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University.  In the past year he has done commercial motion graphics from IBM, Verizon, and AT&T, and interface design for Microsoft, Nike, and numerous other companies.  He hopes through efforts like Visualizar, to give back to the community and establish a more academic presence with his work.

Ted Drennan studied international politics and geography at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He is currently earning a professional certification from ODU in geographic information science. His interests are using GIS to study community geography, access to local resources, and urban alternative transportation issues. This is his first project using real-time visualized cartography.

2:38pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZtWEay3k-xBX