(Click the image for a larger version. )

Fig. 1. The complex system of energy flows in the United States in 2005 (1). More than half of the energy produced is wasted. Units are in quads; 1 quad = 10¹⁵ British thermal units = 1.055 exajoules. [Figure prepared by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, and the U.S. Department of Energy]

From Science/AAAS via Information Aesthetics

Alibre Design Express is a free CAD/solids modeling application making it a great alternative for those without a $1,000 or more to spend on such software. While is does not offer all of the features of the pay version, it is a very powerful application with a host of import and export capabilities. The software offers great video tutorials and help assistance. Beginning video tutorials can be found here following the “QuickStart Guide” link. Alibre is Windows-only and you can download a copy here.

Also, I ran across another 3d modeler over the weekend called CB Model Pro that looks promising and, for now, is also free. SolidWorks, the triple espresso-strength 3d design application, is creating CB Model Pro. CB Model Pro is quick and intuitive similar to SketchUp, but has some of the same limitations (precision, export capabilities, etc.). One of the best features, though, is the ability to model very organic shapes. It will allow exporting to a .stl file, making it compatible with the 3d printer. I plan to do a test model to print and see how well it works. I have done a test print with a model from CB Model Pro, and it works great. There is also the possibility of integrating Alibre Deign and CB Model Pro to get the best of both worlds. You can find CB Model Pro here. It is both Mac/Windows compatible and free while in beta testing.

A while back, I mentioned in class the concept of fabricating a house much in the same way the 3d printer works here in the IVS at JMU. Rather than extruding plastic, this device would extrude a concrete-like substance and fabricate walls layer by layer, including conduits for electricity and pipes for plumbing.

Contour Crafting

Google/SketchUp has a competition brewing that relates to many of the topics of this course. This could be a great collaboration or potential project for the second half of the semester.

This spring, you and your (presumably equally artistic) friends can honor your home turf and hone your 3D design skills by entering Google SketchUp’s Build Your Campus in 3D Competition. Simply model your school’s campus buildings in Google SketchUp, geo-reference them in Google Earth and submit them through this competition web site to earn lasting online glory and, for the winners, an all-expense-paid visit to Google.

You may enter this competition if you are a higher education student in the United States or Canada. Team up with other students, or take the project on yourself. We suggest you have a faculty advisor in order to do the best work possible. Good luck and happy sketching!

Link 

I ran across a new blog today titled “Strange Maps.” This blog, appropriately, posts images of, well… strange maps.

Thursday will be a smorgasbord of visualizations. I have been collecting links to visualizations of interest for nearly a year, as I have prepared for this class. There are too many here to go into detail and we will be looking at most of them in class. Grab a cup of coffee and prepare to surf:

GPS Visualizer
A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods
The architecture of the subterranean nests of the Florida harvester ant
Context Free Art
visualcomplexity
OpenStreetMap
Genealogy of Pop/Rock Music
Blue Brain Project
Grower

Thanks to Dr. Bob Kolvoord for his presentations last week. You can find info about ArcGIS here and access to the online version. Also, the historical map collection Dr. Kolvoord mentioned is that of David Rumsey.

Following up on yesterdays class, here are a few links to information we discussed:

About Gapminder:

Gapminder is a non-profit venture for development and provision of free software that visualise human development. This is done in collaboration with universities, UN organisations, public agencies and non-governmental organisations. Gapminder is a Foundation registered at Stockholm county administration board (Länstyrelsen) (reg. nr. 802424-7721). It was founded by Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Hans Rosling on 25 February 2005, in Stockholm. Gapminder Foundation will advance software development that have been done earlier by the non-profit company Gapminder Ltd. Funding has been and is mainly by grants from Sida for the Trendalyzer project. Being a producer of global public goods Gapminder benefit from free and creative inputs from pilot-testers and other end-users in many institutions and organisations.

Here is a link to Gapminder’s online interactive visualization offered through Google. The TED video we watched with Hans Rosling is available here. Link.

Finally, a link to Edward Tufte’s website. For more information about the Minard map we discussed, see ‘WRITINGS, ARTWORKS, NEWS’ on Tufte’s site under the heading ‘Minard Translations.’ Finally, a link to Tufte’s Powerpoint Essay that was mentioned.

This particular blog, Google Maps Mania,  has hundreds of Google Maps mashups for a variety of applications.

An unofficial Google Maps blog tracking the websites, mashups and tools being influenced by Google Maps.

One of their more popular posts is 50 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups.

What is GoogleEarth?

GoogleEarth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

• Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in.
• Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
• Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
• Save and share your searches and favorites.

You can download a copy of GoogleEarth for lab on Tuesday. Need help getting started? User’s guide.

As I noted when we looked at SketchUp, you can add SketchUp models to GoogleEarth. Info.

Links

IBM has launched an alpha version of a site they are calling Many Eyes. The site aims to facilitate “shared visualization and discovery.” You can upload your own data or use one of their data sets to create visualizations in a variety of formats.

Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns. Our goal is to “democratize” visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis. Jump right to our visualizations now, take a tour, or read on for a leisurely explanation of the project.

All of us at the Visual Communication Lab are passionate about the potential of data visualization to spark insight. It is that magical moment we live for: an unwieldy, unyielding data set is transformed into an image on the screen, and suddenly the user can perceive an unexpected pattern. As visualization designers we have witnessed and experienced many of those wondrous sparks. But in recent years, we have become acutely aware that the visualizations and the sparks they generate, take on new value in a social setting. Visualization is a catalyst for discussion and collective insight about data.

Try it out. Many Eyes