Feeding the Audio Graph – Using Web Audio’s AnalyserNode

Good article on 24ways (yes, that still is a thing) on using Web Audio’s AnalyserNode. const waveform = new Uint8Array(analyser.fftSize); const frequencies = new Uint8Array(analyser.frequencyBinCount); const ctx = canvas.getContext(‘2d’); const loop = () => { requestAnimationFrame(loop); analyser.getByteTimeDomainData(waveform); analyser.getByteFrequencyData(frequencies); ctx.beginPath(); waveform.forEach((f, i) => ctx.lineTo(i, f)); ctx.lineTo(0,255); frequencies.forEach((f, i) => ctx.lineTo(i, 255-f)); ctx.stroke(); } loop(); I especially …

Strava Global Heatmap

Strava has released a Global Heatmap powered by Mapbox GL, plotting all locations where their users go run / go cycle / do water activities / do winter activities. The raw input activity streams data comes from a Spark/S3/Parquet data warehouse. This data includes every one of the 3 trillion GPS points ever uploaded to …

A New Kind of Map: It’s About Time

The Mapbox Team: Recently, we’ve been thinking of a visualization that cuts directly to the way in which people make decisions about where to go: what would a map look like if we swept the physical world away completely, in favor of the time needed to move around it? We’ve been prototyping a simple discovery …

Spark: A Typeface for Creating Sparklines in Text Without Code

Spark is a typeface for creating sparklines in text. It uses OpenType’s contextual alternates and requires no Javascript, though it does require a modern-ish browser that can make use of OpenType features in text. Spark data needs to be formatted as comma-separated values, with curly brackets at both ends of the set, e.g., {30,60,90}. You …

D3 in Depth: Rendering Geographic Information

D3 in Depth has dedicated a chapter to rendering geographic information. D3’s approach differs to so called raster methods such as Leaflet and Google Maps. Typically D3 requests vector geographic information in the form of GeoJSON and renders this to SVG or Canvas in the browser. D3 in Depth: Rendering Geographic Information →

Every Solar Eclipse Happening in your Lifetime

The Washington Post has created a nice article on the upcoming solar eclipse that will cross the United States On Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the contiguous United States. It’ll be the first to traverse coast to coast in nearly a century. There will be 69 total solar eclipses visible …

Exploring interdependencies in global resource trade

The volume of natural resources traded globally has increased over 60% since the turn of the century, reflecting and reinforcing new economic and geopolitical realities and bringing new environmental and social challenges – as well as opportunities. Now everyone can explore these fast-evolving dynamics through Chatham House’s comprehensive and accessible data and insights into resource …

The problem with maps // Playing with Projections

One of the core ideas covered in my talk named “Geoshizzle” on mapping is that the Mercator projection is way overdue. It’s main feature of preserving angle measurements is no longer feasible in this time and age (it was back when you were sailing a boat to get somewhere), and it’s distortion of areas has …

Data Driven Depression – Determining Radiohead’s Most Sad Song

Radiohead has been my favorite band for a while, so I am used to people politely suggesting that I play something “less depressing.” Much of Radiohead’s music is undeniably sad, and this post catalogs my journey to quantify that sadness, concluding in a data-driven determination of their most depressing song. The result: “True Love Waits” …