PinnedIntroducing: The Visual in the NoiseJoin me on Substack for all things data and visualisation — tutorials, inspirations, analysis, datasets, and reviews — in your inbox — I started writing on Medium in early 2020 as a side project. Although every CV that I’ve written since 2005 had listed writing as a key strength, I wondered if strangers on the Internet would read what I wrote. I wasn’t even sure whether I would find writing to be…Coding2 min read
Published in Plotly·Sep 3, 2021Building a Big Data Geographical Dashboard with Open-Source ToolsMapping the U.S. power grid with Dash, Dask, and Datashader — 📌 Watch our previous webinar on the power grid here: https://go.plotly.com/machine-learning-for-electric-grid Author: JP Hwang Source code: https://github.com/databyjp/datashader_powergrid App: https://dash.gallery/datashader-powergrid/ Introduction Investing in infrastructure is critical for societies. Given our ever-growing need for power and more ambitious emissions reduction goals, it’s no surprise that there…Data Science16 min read
Published in Towards Data Science·Feb 16, 2021The right data visualisation tool for the jobThoughts on a few leading data visualisation tools for all skill levels — Between visualisations, lines of code, or pieces of writing, almost everything that I create professionally is intangible. That wasn’t always the case though. I used to be a mechanical engineer back in the day, having worked on things like bridges, tall buildings and even (briefly) race cars. While I’m now…Data Science5 min read
Published in The Visual in the Noise·Dec 8, 2020The case for consistency metrics in sportsThere’s ample evidence that consistency is important. Then why aren’t we measuring it? — This article looks at the link between consistency and wins in sports. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while as a sports fan / data nerd. …Data Science3 min read
Published in The Visual in the Noise·Nov 25, 2020We have been visualising basketball shots wrongWhy transforming your data before visualisation can lead to better insights — You might have seen basketball data visualisations, with the court divided up into hexbins. Kirk Goldsberry of ESPN/Harvard pioneered these, and many a soul (including myself) have produced them since. They often look something like this:Data Visualization2 min read
Published in Towards Data Science·Nov 18, 2020Colourscales are everything in data visualisation – are you using them effectively?How choosing the right colour and scales can make or break your message (with examples & Python code) — You might have seen this COVID map — first reported by andishenouraee on Twitter, and then covered by the media at large. Even if you have, take another look. If you haven’t, these are choropleth maps showing Covid-19 cases per county (from July 2020) in the state of Georgia. The…Programming8 min read
Published in Towards Data Science·Nov 18, 2020Visualising evolution of the NBA offence through dataSee the dramatic changes to the NBA offences over the last 15 years to understand its history and imagine the future. — The NBA in its early days was defined by those who could dominate near the basket. It’s no mistake that the league’s early stars were Wilt and Russell who possessed not only a bruising interior game but also tall, imposing specimen. …Sports7 min read
Published in Towards Data Science·Nov 2, 2020Mad Maps – visualizing geographical data for maximum impactHow to effectively communicate data on maps for clear, insightful insights with Python (code and data included) — The U.S. presidential election is upon us again. You have no doubt had maps flood your Twitter timeline and news feeds already, and the next few weeks after Nov. 3rd will see an escalation of that. We take maps for granted these days, and it’s not difficulty to see why…Data Science10 min read
Published in The Visual in the Noise·Nov 1, 2020Does Ben Simmons fit into the analytics-driven future of the 76ers?The Sixers have hired Daryl Morey in a huge statement of intent. Will Ben Simmons survive The Process, part 2? — Less than a fortnight after resigning from the Houston Rockets, the face of basketball analytics Daryl Morey is back with the Philadelphia 76ers as the president of basketball operations. As Jared Dubin pointed out on FiveThirtyEight, Morey has been one of the most active GMs during his tenure…Sports8 min read
Published in Towards Data Science·Oct 29, 2020What does data tell us about aging in the modern NBA?A data-driven look at how ageing affects the modern NBA. How old are the league’s best players? Are modern players getting younger? Who’s getting playing time? — As many top-level sports grew and matured from their early days of bus rides and humble paychecks into big, multi-billion dollar business over the last few decades, so has sports science. …Data Science7 min read
