A Date with Data — Issue 6
Welcome to our weekly news roundup about all things data!
These are our favorite stories about data from the past week, Sept. 3 — Sept. 9.
Reimagine the game
Sept. 2018
A big part of going to the stadium to watch a soccer game is being part of the crowd and soaking up the atmosphere. To quantify this unique sensory experience, the Economist, Siemens, and FC Bayern Munich, teamed up with data design agency Signal Noise, and analyzed the roar of the crowd. They collected sound-based data during the game between Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim at the Allianz Arena on August 24, 2018, and created a series of interactive visualizations to show the energy of 75,000 fans. This visualization is an example of how data and sound-mapping technology can change our perception of our surroundings, allowing us not only to experience the atmosphere of the entire game, but also compare fans’ reactions during key moments. Stay tuned for the next game to be covered, between Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach on October 4th. THE ECONOMIST
Why did The New York Times do the poll the way they did?
Sept. 6, 2018
With the Midterm elections in the USA only two months away, news organizations are brushing up their tools to measure the intentions of voters. Last week The New York Times announced that they’re publishing live results of their Midterm Elections polls, from start to finish, phone call by phone call. Trying to overcome the evils of the past — when in 2016 their polls showed Hillary Clinton with a modest lead — The New York Times paired up with Siena College, and took a transparent and data-informed approach to polling. In this article last week, they revealed the thinking behind their choices and shared all the methodology for their analysis. THE UPSHOT — THE NEW YORK TIMES
2200 Wildfires in Germany this year
Sept. 6, 2018
This summer, wildfires in central and northern Europe were more frequent and catastrophic than in previous years. The dry and hot months of May, June, and July brought drought and wildfires to countries where they weren’t previously a problem. Datawrapper, a graph-building tool, used data from NASA satellites collected by Global Forest Watch, to visualize the monthly wildfire count in Germany since 2012. They’ve shown that this year — and it’s still only September — there have been 2200 wildfires in Germany alone. It goes without saying that other countries with Mediterranean and tropical climates suffer from catastrophic wildfires every year, but the widespread fire outbreak in our northern neighbors raises concerns for a worldwide pattern. CHARTABLE — DATAWRAPPER
Google launches new search engine to help scientists find the datasets they need
Sept. 5, 2018
Google has just launched a Dataset Search service as a companion to the popular Google Scholar search engine. It’s an attempt to unify the fragmented universe of data repositories on the web and make it easier for everyone to discover, use, and share data. From data by NASA to that of news organizations, and from datasets about beer and coffee to ants and oceans, there’s something in there for everyone. THE VERGE
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading!
