gka - Network

Remember when I discussed the idea for a new data visualization framework for Svelte? It is time to get excited! I’ve been secretly...

Remember when I discussed the idea for a new data visualization framework for Svelte? It is time to get excited! I’ve been secretly working on making SveltePlot possible and will finally share the current state next week at Svelte Summit 2025!!! Stay tuned... https://www.vis4.net/blog/2024/01/svelteplot/ https://www.sveltesummit.com/

Arguments I’ve heard so far from viZ defenders:- Data visualization is like magic, so we must be viZards (I disagree, it’s more like...

Arguments I’ve heard so far from viZ defenders:

- Data visualization is like magic, so we must be viZards (I disagree, it’s more like craft and science).
- Look Google says it’s more popular (a million flies can’t be wrong).
- it’s more fun and soundz like the cool kidz (hard to argue with that)

But nothing changes the fact that it’s wrong. Any other takes?

I’m viSualizing data, not viZualizing! I studied InfoVis, not InfoViZ. Our fields main scientific conferences are IEEE VIS and EuroVIS,...

I’m viSualizing data, not viZualizing! I studied InfoVis, not InfoViZ. Our fields main scientific conferences are IEEE VIS and EuroVIS, not IEEE VIZ and EuroVIZ. It all comes from visum: Latin for “sight”.

Perhaps this is a lost fight, but I refuse to use #dataviz as abbreviation for data visualization — it’s wrong and should be #datavis!...

Perhaps this is a lost fight, but I refuse to use #dataviz as abbreviation for data visualization — it’s wrong and should be #datavis! Why? ➡️ 🧵

this was the thread I was referring to, btw. There was a problem with my Bsky/Mastodon crossposting... ...

this was the thread I was referring to, btw. There was a problem with my Bsky/Mastodon crossposting... https://vis.social/@gka/114078579028822219

Here's the entire process outlined in a Observable notebook if you want to tweak the parameters or try to create your own for other...

Here's the entire process outlined in a Observable notebook if you want to tweak the parameters or try to create your own for other countries. https://observablehq.com/@gka/zon-btw-cartogram-2025-82nsjs9s3

Of course, no cartogram comes without distortion. The western states like North-Rhine-Westphalia are heavily populated and push the lesser...

Of course, no cartogram comes without distortion. The western states like North-Rhine-Westphalia are heavily populated and push the lesser populated districts to the East. But the final layout worked well during election night, I think.

To compute the final layout we use a force simulation with 3 forces: one of them keeps neighboring districts together while another pushes...

To compute the final layout we use a force simulation with 3 forces: one of them keeps neighboring districts together while another pushes districts away from each other if they are too close. Coloring the nodes helped to identify problems during the process.

Some of these fixed districts turned out to be too close to each other, so we defined a few exceptions for border districts we want to be...

Some of these fixed districts turned out to be too close to each other, so we defined a few exceptions for border districts we want to be free, and also a few custom positions that prevent the nodes to "leave" the country.

Before running the network layout simulation on this, we marked all the outer districts as fixed. This allows the final layout to stay...

Before running the network layout simulation on this, we marked all the outer districts as fixed. This allows the final layout to stay "in shape" of the country as a whole, which is important for readers to recognize their country.

We used the TopoJSON arcs to automatically find these districts.

Due to Germany's convex outer shape we removed edges longer than a certain threshold and ended up with this final "network" of...

Due to Germany's convex outer shape we removed edges longer than a certain threshold and ended up with this final "network" of nodes and links.

Then we used a Delaunay tessellation of the district centroids. This later helps the districts to stay close to their geographical...

Then we used a Delaunay tessellation of the district centroids. This later helps the districts to stay close to their geographical neighbors.

As input for the cartogram we use a pre-projected TopoJSON basemap of election districts with baked-in centroids (inner points). We used...

As input for the cartogram we use a pre-projected TopoJSON basemap of election districts with baked-in centroids (inner points). We used Mapshaper to generate the file.

For the German election we wanted to use a cartogram of election districts but didn't find anything good, so we created our own....

For the German election we wanted to use a cartogram of election districts but didn't find anything good, so we created our own. Here's a little nerd thread how the final algorithm worked 🤓 🧵 #gis #cartogram #election #datavis #cartography

Oh, and the thread may sound a bit like we went straight for the solution, but of course there were a lot of uglier versions before that....

Oh, and the thread may sound a bit like we went straight for the solution, but of course there were a lot of uglier versions before that. One big leap forward was the decision to include the outer country shape, which is often missing in cartograms.

POV: it’s 2025 and I’m still solving my problems with setTimeout()

POV: it’s 2025 and I’m still solving my problems with setTimeout()

The number of options for government coalitions in the upcoming German election heavily depends on how many smaller parties reach the...

The number of options for government coalitions in the upcoming German election heavily depends on how many smaller parties reach the five-percent threshold. We analyzed 50.000 elections to visualize this effect using animated kernel density plots 🤓 (text in 🇩🇪)
https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2025-02/bundestagswahl-prognose-fuenf-prozent-huerde-fdp-bsw-linke?freebie=e8727ae4

Insane: all books of the world visualized in ISBN space https://phiresky.github.io/isbn-visualization/ (by https://github.com/phiresky,...

Insane: all books of the world visualized in ISBN space https://phiresky.github.io/isbn-visualization/ (by https://github.com/phiresky, via HackerNews)

Just a few days left to submit a talk for the next NIAM conference (News Infographics Analytics Maps) in Berlin in January. The broad topic...

Just a few days left to submit a talk for the next NIAM conference (News Infographics Analytics Maps) in Berlin in January. The broad topic is „the political in maps“. It’s a very nice, small, and free (!) conference, so you should come! https://pretalx.news-infographics-analytics-maps.media/2025/cfp

I'm very excited about the next MapLibreGL.js release, which will feature a globe view, aka the Adaptive Composite Map Projection! The...

I'm very excited about the next MapLibreGL.js release, which will feature a globe view, aka the Adaptive Composite Map Projection! The demo looks fantastic already (https://kvaleya.gitlab.io/maplibre/globe/globedemo.html), but some issues still need fixing. Here you can help: https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Aglobe #GoodbyeMercator