Tasty Data Goodies

wednesday at where 2.0

should've blogged this yesterday, but an update from the where 2.0 conference on wednesday..  we won the launchpad vote on monday night so we got to do the demo again in front of double the audience, double the antics.  we ran out of time at the very end this time, so no robot dance.  hopefully the same message got across.

reconnected with the guys from up next (if you want an invitation password, then post a comment) and geocommons.  again, you should check out what they're doing with maps too.  andy and jesse were running around all hectic like being co-chair/staff and all so didn't get a chance to hang out with them at all.  also talked to a slew of people whose names i unfortunately barely remember, but hopefully i'll catch up with them post-conference anyway.

all in all, some cool stuff.  a lot of stuff around getting higher-resolution street-level type things, like google's street view and microsoft's 3d buildings.  lots of people were talking about esri.  i more enjoyed all of the start-up level stuff, but that's probably just personal preference.

Swivel G rocks the Imperial Ballroom

Thanks to all of you who came out last night for the Ignite/Launchpad session at the O'Reilly Where2007 conference. There were lots of great products being shown. Like UpNext and their beautiful (seriously) 3-D cityscape of New York City. Or GeoCommons launched by Fortiusone, a super cool group we have gotten to know recently. And leave it to the Spanish contingent for highly entertaining demos on Tagzania and Hipoqih.

There was also a round or two of voting. We are happy to report that Swivel G rocked the Imperial Ballroom vote. Which means Visnu and Tao will get to do their thing again during the keynote session tomorrow morning. Be there!

Introducing Swivel Geography

Admit it, there is a certain cool factor about maps on the web. We all like to look at where we are in relation to other places. Now, imagine the ability to look not just at where you are in relation to the nearest pizza place, but where you are in relation to all the world's data. If you live in the US, how your state ranks in number of vehicles on the road. Or percent of Muslims by country worldwide. Or the top 13 countries for military spending.

We thought it was a pretty cool idea too, so, we launched Swivel Geography. Or Swivel G. Or the Geo-spot for data.

Swivel G is built on world-class map technology and includes many of the features users have grown to love, such as the ability to zoom in and out and move seamlessly from one part of the globe to another.  Swivel G adds to the experience with interactive features that enable users to drill down into specific data points in more detail.

All of the graph edit features are still there, we have just added a tab for maps, next to the one for data cloud. And if you like what you see and want to use the data in, say, Google Earth, we have provided the KML version for download as well - located just below the map.

And for those of you in the Bay Area, if you want to see a live-action demo of Swivel G, please come by the O'Reilly Where2.0 conference in San Jose, CA tonight at 7 - open to the public.

 

MAPLight.org - Money & Politics

At the Web 2.0 Expo last month we had a chance to meet up with the folks at MAPLight.org.  MAPLight.org is "a nonpartisan nonprofit illuminating the connection between money and politics in unprecedented ways."  They recently launched a Money & Politics Search Engine for U.S. Congress.  MAPLight.org is an engaging Web site for some very important data. Check 'em out.

come support the mappy launch at where2.0

this coming monday, may 28 (memorial day for those of you keeping track), we're going to be launching SwivelG at the Where2.0 ignite launchpad.  so make some signs and paint your faces, 'cuz it's free and open to the public.  7pm, fairmont hotel, downtown san jose (jose not francisco).  (i'll buy you a free drink if you mention this blog post)

Vote for Pedro

Swivel has been selected as a finalist in the Data category by the editors of CNET Webware.com for the Webware 100 Awards. We are flattered, excited and up against some stiff competition.

But what does webware even mean, you may ask? If you looked at your own habits, you might find the answer. Do you even remember the days of email when you couldn't log on with a web browser? Even the most enterprise of enterprise-wide applications have web-based versions we have come to depend on — regardless of how limited their functionality may be, the convenience of having it accessible from anywhere is key. We rely on web products to organize our documents, schedules, photos, bookmarks, our work, our lives.

More and more features and functionality are moving onto the web. Gone are the days when the "thick-" versus "thin client" question even made sense. Thick clients are going the way of the dodo. As for shrink-wrap? Huh?

Enter Swivel. Not only do we hope to revolutionize how data is found and used, but how people collect, manage and innovate using data — all on the web.

Though there are a lot of great products in the category to choose from, we think ours is a unique take on data not found anywhere else. And, after all, this is the Data category we are talking about. Therefore, we kindly ask, if you are so inclined, please stop by and vote for Swivel.

User voting will open Wednesday May 23 at Noon Pacific Time and stay open until 9:00 AM June 11.

Running the Numbers

I am prone to making arguments about how data affects our daily lives. No matter how hard I try, the point I am often trying to make remains abstract. Something only nerds and geeks like to talk about.

Well, no more. Seattle-based artist, Chris Jordan, has attempted to bring these numbers to life through powerful images. His new series, "Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait," looks at our society through the "austere lens of statistics."

Each image portrays a specific quantity of something, such as fifteen million sheets of office paper - five minutes of paper use or 106,000 aluminum cans - thirty seconds of can consumption.

"My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs."  -- Chris Jordan

Please have a look at his work. We hope you find the images as powerful as we do.

A little maintenance

We're just making some quick tweaks here and there to the database for some speed gains.  Bear with us; we should be back up in about 30 minutes.