Visualizing Data: My Late Night Rendezvous with Earthquakes

My first thought, I probably need a faster computer. This exercise led me deep into burning the midnight oil. My second thought, I probably should limit the amount of data I use for the practical purposes of visualization. It reminded me of an old adage I recall hearing in the military, “there’s two ways we do things here; the right way, and again!” Much like the military, Python demands the right way, or you’ll be doing it again.

Exhibited here is earthquake data from a 24-hour time horizon on Oct 10th, 2017 taken from the United States Geological Survey. When thinking about how I should visualize it, I did reference the precedents published before this. However, I wanted to exhibit the magnitude information in a slightly different way that might be more appropriate for this particular data set. Also, because the data was temporal (but not a time-series), I thought it would be useful to explicitly denote the time of record. In addition, I thought other important attributes associated with each event would be worth including, such as the location. If I were to write a sequel, wedding a slippy map to this visual would be in the treatment.

Overall, this was a great way to experiment with data visualization in Python. Above you can find the output and below you can find the code.

RLTW

import csv
def setup():
    
    size(1200, 550)
    with open("allquakes20171010.csv") as f:
        reader = csv.reader(f)
        header = reader.next()
global magnitudes
        magnitudes = []
global locations
        locations = []
        
        global times
        times = []
for field in reader:
            magnitude = float(field[4])
            magnitudes.append(magnitude)
location = str(field[13])
            locations.append(location)
            
            time = splitTokens(field[0], "T .")
            times.append(time)
def draw():
    
    # visualization variables
    background(0)
    barScalar = 100
    barWidth = 2.99
    barTime = 4
    
    textPositionX = 3.33
    textPositionY = 400
    
    # interactivity variables
    mouseTrackerX = 1.5
    zeroCoordinateMagnitude = 0
    zeroCoordinateLocation = 0
    zeroCoordinateTime = 0
    
    # lights, camera, action
    for magnitude in magnitudes:
        if mouseX < zeroCoordinateMagnitude - barWidth / mouseTrackerX or mouseX > zeroCoordinateMagnitude + barWidth / mouseTrackerX:
            fill(90)
        else:
            fill(60, 179, 113)
            textSize(12)
            textAlign(LEFT)
            text(magnitude, width / textPositionX, textPositionY + 45)
        ellipse(zeroCoordinateMagnitude, height / 2, barWidth, magnitude * barScalar)
        zeroCoordinateMagnitude = zeroCoordinateMagnitude + barTime
for location in locations:
        if mouseX < zeroCoordinateLocation - barWidth / mouseTrackerX or mouseX > zeroCoordinateLocation + barWidth / mouseTrackerX:
            fill(0)
        else: 
            fill(60, 179, 113)
            textSize(12)
            textAlign(LEFT)
            text(location, width / textPositionX + 4, textPositionY + 65)
        zeroCoordinateLocation = zeroCoordinateLocation + barTime
for time in times:
        if mouseX < zeroCoordinateTime - barWidth / mouseTrackerX or mouseX > zeroCoordinateTime + barWidth / mouseTrackerX:
            fill(0)
        else: 
            fill(60, 179, 113)
            textSize(12)
            textAlign(LEFT)
            text(time[1], width / textPositionX + 4, textPositionY + 85)
        zeroCoordinateTime = zeroCoordinateTime + barTime
          
    # static text
    fill(60, 179, 113)
    textSize(18)
    text("24 Hour Earthquake Activity: October 10th, 2017", 20, textPositionY - 360)
fill(150)
    textSize(12)
    textAlign(RIGHT)
    text("Magnitude:", width / textPositionX, textPositionY + 45)
    
    fill(150)
    textSize(12)
    textAlign(RIGHT)
    text("Location:", width / textPositionX, textPositionY + 65)
    
    fill(150)
    textSize(12)
    textAlign(RIGHT)
    text("Time:", width / textPositionX, textPositionY + 85)
    
    fill(150)
    textSize(12)
    textAlign(RIGHT)
    text("Source:", width / textPositionX, textPositionY + 105)
fill(60, 179, 113)
    textSize(12)
    textAlign(LEFT)
    text("USGS 2017", 365, textPositionY + 105)