I recently completed a new Tableau project presenting research into users of recreational vehicles in the US. I sourced public data from recreation.gov and started digging into the 1.7 website users who are in RVs of some kind. (1 out of every 5 reservations for public land use involve an RV!)

I made sure to not skimp on temporal analysis, given the impact the weather can have on a camping experience. My domain knowledge partially derives from living in the Northeast and having strong family ties to New England. I went looking for when people leave the house, hit the road, and commit to the adventure of RV usage, state-by-state. Most states evidence a late spring start time for travel activity that spikes once annually, in summer.

But when I got to Maine, I laughed out loud.

It is common for art students to access employment working for older artists. Many continue this kind of work into their early careers as studio managers or technical assistants. During art school I worked for many artists, but one of my favorite experiences was as an archive assistant for a successful illustrator and painter.

He was known for his witty editorial style but I noticed his drawings also seemed to jump off the page because of their beautiful, colorful shadows. He explained to me that he had congenital red-green color blindness, and used a numbered painter's palette to keep track of different colors, including colors that did not look very distinct to him.

The shades of darker and lighter green that I had noticed in his painted shadows looked different to him than to many of his fans, but there was no loss of data, simply a change in format for accessibility. The shade was the data grain.

When I make decisions about presenting information, I remember the nuance he was able to retain in his work.

If the decisions made to format information are disclosed properly, and sources are fully cited, it may be much easier to convey meaning by changing format. Classic examples of this include converting values to normalized percentages or using "1 out X" when introducing a finding.

I recently did some hiking in wild state land where there is not a formal trail established. I brought my phone and made use of two wonderful free apps:

AllTrails, recording information about my walking that I could review later, as well as functioning as a safety precaution much as a simple compass would.

Cornell Lab's Merlin Bird ID, making predictive guesses with a strong degree of accuracy to identify bird species in real time. This app also displays the waveform of birdsong and records audio for playback later.

My primary goal was to get to the highest elevation point within the shortest distance.

My secondary goal was to gain some information about the plant and animal life in the forest and whether it varied significantly by elevation. Ex: Past 1500 foot elevation, are trees larger and bird species more varied?

My approach was to walk, or climb, towards the Southeast, using the AllTrails app to ensure I stayed oriented correctly in terms of cardinal direction.

My assumptions included an open, sunnier plateau at the summit (2971 feet elevation), and also that the descent back down would consume =< the same amount of time as the ascent, because it would be less strenuous.

Because both of the apps record data about a specific, time-bound experience, and that data has a natural shape to begin with, I am looking forward to using it as the basis of visualizations that convey the experiences of walking on wild land for aspiring hikers. "Wild" land is a legal designation, but has subjective connotations that might exclude evidence of any human activity. If I can access historical information about land usage over the centuries, ideally already in geospatial form, I could add an overlay to account for the many lengths of stone walls, extending off into the dense woods, that I encountered.

In much of our daily life, we use a conceptual model of what a first-time experience is going to be like to make decisions. With more information about what turned into a 4+ hour hike, I think I would bring an additional sandwich for the next time!

Screengrab from Merlin Bird ID

The UI/UX design for this app is excellent, because it allows novices as well as users highly knowledgeable about bird species to have satisfying experiences. The waveform shape of each birdcall is quite evocative and I hope to create Tableau storyboards in the future based on this visual information.

My assumption as to species diversity was bolstered by the information recorded. Red-eyed vireos were confirmed at every elevation, and near the summit, close to the median of the hike's duration, numerous other bird species were identified.

Screengrab from AllTrails

My primary assumption had to be corrected. I took a different route downhill to return from the highest point, following a stream, thinking it would make for easier terrain. This was not the case, as highly variable streambed elevations required frequent course corrections. As I was able to record with this image, at roughly 3 miles into my hike, I had to cross the stream and walk a very meandering path back.