Research: Physical Visualizations


List of Physical Visualizations

This page is about passive (no electronics included) physical visualizations. For active physical visualizations, see ActivePhysicalVisualizations.

For our current research on this topic, see www.aviz.fr/phys. Andrew Vande Moere has also published on the topic and hosts the infosthetics blog from which some of these entries come from.

New entries are at the bottom of this page.

Cosmographs

This early physical visualization is made of 1000 sheets of paper. It was not meant to be directly explored, but was instead a method for producing 2D images of flow charts.

Source: Willard Cope Brinton. (1939). Graphic Presentation.

A higher-resolution color scan can be seen here.

Added by Pierre.

Physical maps

Two other physical map visualizations in Brinton's book.

Source: Willard Cope Brinton. (1939). Graphic Presentation.

Added by Pierre.

Bertin's Reorderable Matrices

A device made by Jacques Bertin for studying matrix reordering.

Sources: Left photo taken during Jacques Bertin's 2005 interview by Jean-Daniel Fekete, Nathalie Henry and Jean-Baptiste Labrune. Right photo from Bertin's 1975 book "la Graphique et le traitement graphique de l'information", captured from these slides by Torsten Möller.

More photos on the aviz website, in the flickr photo set by Jean-Baptiste Labrune, and on Page 78 of Nathalie Henry's PhD dissertation. Also see Jean-Daniel Fekete's interview on Jacques Bertin by Enrico Bertini and our interview by Data Stories where we demo a simplified version of Bertin's matrix made by Innar Liiv.

Added by Pierre.

Mount Fear

A 3D map of London where elevation represents crime rate.

Source: Abilgail Reynolds. Mount Fear Statistics for Crimes with Offensive Weapon South London 2001-2002 (2002) corrugated cardboard 2.3m x 1.85m x height 1.85m. http://www.abigailreynolds.com/.

Added by Pierre.

Physical Bar Charts

Participative visualization where people pick badges from tanks to vote. A lower bar means more votes.

Source: Lucy Kimbell (2006). Physical Bar Charts. http://www.lucykimbell.com/LucyKimbell/PhysicalBarCharts.html

Added by Pierre.

3D wooden maps

Carved by inuits from the Ammassalik Island and used as eyes-free guides for sailing. The left one shows coastline, the right one shows a sequence of offshore islands.

Source: Bill Buxton (2007). Sketching User Experiences. page 36.

Added by Pierre.

Harry Potter's Social Network

At the 2008 science fair (fête de la science), we had kids build physical node-link diagrams of Harry Potter's social network using magnets and rubber bands.

Source: Aviz. http://www.aviz.fr/old/fetedelascience08/

Added by Pierre.

Lego Cartograms

Source: Samuel Granados. Lego Cartograms. http://www.samuelgranados.es/handmade.html (via FlowingData and infosthetics).

Added by Pierre.

New York Times articles

From Over Here is a physical representation of articles from the New York Times from 1992-2010. Each card represents a month of articles about, or related to Ireland. The people and topics mentioned in the articles are etched on each card.

Source: Flickr via infostetics http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmmay/sets/72157626087196057/

Added by Jean-Daniel.

Seismographic Readings

A 30cm x 20cm piece on display at London's Jerwood Space that depicts nine minutes of seismographic readings during the 9.0 earthquake.

Source: Gizmodo http://gizmodo.com/5855077/british-artist-remakes-nine-minutes-of-japans-destruction-as-something-beautiful

Added by Pierre.

Electricity consumption from 1935

3D physical visualization made by Detroit Edison Company showing electricity consumption for the year 1935, with a slice per day and each day split into 30 min intervals.

Source: Howard A. Spielman. (2006). "Virtual Reality" Circa 1935.

Two other examples can be found in Willard Cope Brinton. (1939). Graphic Presentation.

Sent by Samuel, added by Yvonne & Pierre.

Scientific Visualization in Crystal

Paul Bourke proposes to use sub-surface laser engraving for communicating about scientific findings at conferences.

Source: Paul Bourke (2008) Presenting Scientific Visualisation Results as 3D Crystal Engravings.

Paul Bourke also has seminar slides and a poster discussing the use of 3D-printed models.

Sent by Yvonne, added by Pierre.

Paper Models of 3D Plots

Source: http://www.mapleprimes.com/maplesoftblog/125512-Paper-Models-Of-3D-Plots

Added by Pierre.

Andreas Fischers' Data Sculptures

Andreas Nicolas Fischer is a Berlin-based artist. Below are four of his 3-D data sculptures: fundament (world GDP and derivatives volume), indizes (finance data over time), a week in the life (cellphone communications), reflection (FFT of a music piece). Each image links to the corresponding project Web page.

Source: http://anfischer.com via infosthetics.

Added by Pierre.

Joshua Callaghan's Physical Graphs

Physical 2-D charts.

Source: http://www.joshuacallaghan.com/Graphs.htm

Added by Pierre.

Justin Stewart's Data Sculptures

A 3-D graph and a time series visualization.

Source: http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/tag/r-justin-stewart/

Added by Pierre.

Keyboard Frequency Sculpture

Source: Michael Knuepfel. Posted on Vimeo.

Gundega Strautmane's Relational Ornaments

Textile art based on the network maps of Valdis Krebs

Source: Flickr.

Sent by Fanny, added by Jean-Daniel.

Nathalie Miebach's Woven Sculptures

Woven sculptures of weather data.

Source: Nathalie Miebach. http://www.nathaliemiebach.com/weather.html (TED Talk)

Sent by Fanny, added by Pierre.

3D LEGO Visualizations Used in Business

LEGOs help business executives log and explore data.

Source: Mark Wilson (2012) How GM Is Saving Cash Using Legos As A Data Viz Tool.

Sent by Fanny, added by Pierre.

Iohanna Pani's Tableware

This set of tableware by designer Iohanna Pani conveys personal statistical data.

Source: designboom

Sent by Fanny, added by Yvonne.

Nadeem Haidary's Tableware

Tableware conveying world statistics. This fork shows calories consumption for the US and three other countries.

Source: Nadeem Haidary

Sent by Fanny, added by Yvonne.

United States electoral vote map

This is a 3D scale replica of the United States, the state height corresponds to the number of electoral votes each state controls in a presidential election.

Source: thing 11178 on thingiverse.com

Added by Yvonne.

Domestic Water Usage Visualized with Sponges

Can We Keep Up [halwatts.co.uk] is a a physical data visualisation that investigates the domestic need for water in cities all over the world.

Source: |infosthetics.com

Sent by Romain, added by Yvonne.

Tactile Color Representations on Rubik's cubes

Rubik’s cube converted into a tactile game.

This design uses laser cut shapes on the outside of the cube to give each side a different feel.

Source: Smithsonian.com

Sent by Fanny, added by Yvonne.

Juan Manuel Escalante's Microsonic Landscapes

Microsonic Landscapes [realitat.com] by Juan Manuel de J. Escalante represents music in a physical form by way of an algorithmic translation process from sound to form. Seemingly, a series of spectrum-based soundwaves are swooped around to create tangible, circular shapes.

Source: Infosthetics.com

Added by Yvonne.

More Democratically Divided Cake Mold

A cake mold that creates pieces of cake in different sizes.

Source: Infosthetics.com

Added by Yvonne.

City populations

Large-scale physical density models where plywood forms represent the populations of 12 of the world’s major urban centres. Made by a team of designers and architects led by Professor Richard Burdett.

Source: Eliza Williams (2007) Global Cities at Tate Modern. Right photo by Stefan Geens.

Added by Pierre.

Trajectory + Solid Terrain Model

A real case study involving the use of a physical 3D trajectory visualization on top of a 3D terrain model to analyze the causes of a plane crash.

This case study is interesting in terms of cost-benefit analysis, since these models appear to be extremely expensive to build. The case study includes an informal but interesting comparison with animations: "The mock jurors later related that the physical model was easier to understand and it allowed them to discuss the issues with each other more easily than the animation." The company who builds these models, STM, uses a milling machine and a 3D inkjet printer.

Source: http://www.solidterrainmodeling.com/pdf_brochures/litigation%20case%20study.pdf

Added by Pierre.

Brain slices

A neuroscientific physical visualization made by an artist and a neuroscientist. Exhibited at the at the VisWeek 2011 art show.

Source: David Paulsen and Pinar Yoldas. Photo by Samuel Huron.

Added by Pierre.

Full-Color 3D-Printed SciVis Models

In 2004, the Visualization Research Lab from Brown University printed full-color 3D models of scientific visualizations. They published a poster on the topic where they discuss the technical challenges they faced. The printer used was a Zcorp Z406.

Source: http://vis.cs.brown.edu/areas/projects/rapid.html

Added by Pierre.

Solid Terrain Modelling Techniques

Not a physical visualization but an interesting review of all past and present techniques for doing solid terrain modelling.

Source: http://www.terrainmodels.com/techniques.html

Added by Pierre.

DataCoaster

DataCoaster is a re-imagining of the classic waiting room toy. But instead of arbitrarily loopy lines, DataCoaster's lines are generated by data, essentially transforming a simple, kinetic toy into a graph of information.

If you're interested in getting one of these for your data, have a look at the source for this entry and contact Bobby - he is planning to offer this service.

Sent by Bobby, added by Yvonne.

Collection of 10 Distribution Plushies

This is a commercial offer for a set of 10 plush distributions.

Source: web shop

Sent by Fanny & Jean-Daniel, added by Yvonne.

All Possible Photons

These are stainless steel sculptures of Feynman diagrams created by Edward Tufte. They are currently (opening Sep 12, 2012) exhibited at Edward Tufte's gallery in Chelsea.
Free 16 page catalogue.

Added by Yvonne.

Time-Evolving Scatterplot

Unemployment rate plotted against inflation for 8 countries over 10 years. Every layer represents a year and each country is a wire of a different color. This physical visualization was built by Tim Dwyer for his PhD dissertation Two and a Half Dimensional Visualisation of Relational Networks (2005). His goal was to experimentally compare a 3-D and a 2-D data representation, and he used a physical object to emulate a perfect 3D display.

Source: Tim Dwyer

Added by Pierre.

Frankfurt Streetcar Load from 1913

Another early physical visualization, with strips of woods glued on top of each other to convey the average number of passengers carried between two stops. Each strip corresponds to 4,000 passengers.

Source: Willard Cope Brinton. (1914). Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts.

Added by Pierre.

Pin Maps from 1910s

Left image: Sources of the 3,000 first letters of appeal sent to Mrs. E. H. Harriman; eight different kinds of pins were used to represent different kinds of appeals. Middle image: residence of Harvard students 6 years after their graduation; made with beads, pins and wires. Right image: collection of pins and beads made for maps.

Source: Willard Cope Brinton. (1914). Graphic Methods for Presenting Facts. Hi-Res page scans from Denis Wood.

Added by Pierre.

Tactile Graphics

Information visualizations for the blind conveyed through tactile graphics.

Source: APH (American Printing House for the Blind), Inc. (1994) Tactile Graphics Starter Kit.

Added by Pierre.

Graph Board

Mathematics and geometry are often taught to blind students using a cork board with raised grid lines, push pins and rubber bands. The right image shows a teacher explaining the use of APH's Graphic Aid for Mathematics.

Sources:

Added by Pierre.

Molecule Models

The Molecular Graphics Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute makes heavy use of 3D-printed full-color physical molecule models, some of which are articulated, flexible, and even self-assembling (click on the right image below to see a video). They also design AR systems that use those physical models.

Source: http://mgl.scripps.edu/projects/tangible_models Article here.

Added by Pierre.

Interactive Wooden Model of 3D MRI Data

A selection of MRI data glued on 60 wooden blocks which allow to physically dig into cross sections. More details on infosthetics.

Source: infosthetics.com

Added by Yvonne.

Thesis LEGO Board

A design exploration of LEGO-based physical visualizations for project management by educational scientist Daniel K. Schneider.

Source: Daniel K. Schneider (2012) Lego-compatible thesis project board. Edutech Wiki.

Added by Pierre.

Activity Logging with LEGO Bricks

A visualization and logging method for personal work activity. Every tower is a day of the week. A layer is one working hour, horizontally subdivided in four quarters of an hour. Different colors are different projects. The constant availability of this interface makes it easier to log personal activity data on-the-fly, before entering it in a PIM software (an automatic method involving computer vision is being considered).

Source: Michael Hunger (2008) On LEGO Powered Time-Tracking. Jexp.de blog.

Added by Pierre.

Bug Tracking with LEGO Bricks

LEGOs again, this time for bug tracking.

Source: Takeshi Kakeda (2008) Tangible Bug Tracking using LEGO bricks. Agile 2008 conference.

Added by Pierre.

Data Jewelry

A company lets you enter in cities you've been to and generates a physical mesh to order as a necklace, earrings, or cufflinks.

Source: http://meshu.io/

Sent by Moritz Stefaner, added by Pierre.

More Science Trapped in Crystal

Bathsheba Grossman explores the region between art and mathematics by creating physical 3D visualizations of data from astronomy, biology, math and physics. Left image: a piece of DNA molecule. Right image: a 3D map of our nearby stars.

Source: http://www.bathsheba.com

Added by Pierre.

Proteine Visualizations from the 1960s

Left image: The first physical model of a protein (myoglobin) built by crystallographer John Kendrew in 1957 using plasticine. The image is from a 1958 Nature article, for a more recent photo see here. In 1960 Kendrew completed a higher-resolution skeletal model known as the "forest of rods". The model was 2-meter wide, made of brass, and supported with 2,500 vertical rods, making it barely legible. Colored clips were attached to the rods to visualize electron density. See photos here and there.

Middle image: Biochemist Max Perutz working on a model of hemoglobin similar to the "forest of rods", completed in 1968. Hemoglobin is made of 10,000 atoms. Perutz and Kendrew shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for working out the structure of those giant molecules.

Right image: A visualization device built by biochemist Fred Richards in 1968 and known as the "optical comparator", the "Richards Box" or "Fred's Folly". This device taller than a person used a half-silvered mirror to optically combine a wireframe physical protein model with electron density maps.

Sources:

Added by Pierre.

Sound Sculptures

Sound seems to be a major source of inspiration for data sculptures. Various examples are Sound/Chair by Plummer Fernandez, Sound Memory by Marius Watz, Reflection by Nicolas Fischer & Benjamin Maus, Binaural by Daniel Widrig & Shajay Booshan, Cylinder by Andy Huntington and Drew Allan, and Benga - I Will Never Change by Us.

Sources: click on the images above to see the project pages.

Sent by Fanny, added by Pierre.

3D printed weather bracelet and measuring cup

Weather data is another interesting choice for creating data jewelry. Below to the left is a bracelet created by Mitchell Whitelaw based on one year of weather data from Canberra. The right image shows a measuring cup where each ring represents monthly average temperatures in Sydney over 150 years.

Sources: click on the images above to get to the project pages with detailed information on how those were made.

Sent by Mitchell, added by Yvonne.

Data become solid

Several examples for data sculptures showing city and country indicator data by Volker Schweisfurth. They were all 3D-printed using a multi-color 3D printer.

Click the image for a higher resolution version.

Sent by Volker, added by Yvonne.

Housing price in Germany

Source

Added by Pierre

Know another one?

If you know other interesting physical visualizations, please e-mail us:

Comments

07.03.2013 - 13:18

Petra

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