
1) Two Northeastern University professors visualized immigration data for National Geographic by creating a fascinating chart that looks a lot like the growth rings of a tree. They write, “Like countries, trees can be hundreds, even thousands, of years old. Cells grow slowly, and the pattern of growth influences the shape of the trunk. Just as these cells leave an informational mark in the tree, so too do incoming immigrants contribute to the country’s shape.”

2) Accessibility is important in all kinds of communication, and data visualization is no exception. But it’s not always obvious how to make visualizations more accessible. You can find several tips for improving your visualization in “Accessible data viz is better data viz.”

3) Urban planning postdoc Geoff Boeing used open map data to create a series of polar histograms that demonstrate how the streets in various U.S. cities do or don’t follow a neat grid. It’s a great example of a visualization that looks intriguing and also packs a lot of information. Learn more about it in his blog post, Comparing City Street Orientations.
I hope you enjoyed this data visualization news! If you have any data visualization questions, please feel free to email me and set up an appointment at the Scholarly Commons.