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Category: Visualisation

How far is it to the coast?

August 22, 2020February 9, 2021 ~ Bob ~ 3 Comments

We recently felt like escaping to the seaside, but it's quite far away from us and the weather was awful, so we settled for tea and cake nearby instead. That got me wondering how far it was to the (UK) coast, and which bit of the UK was furthest from the coast. So I dug … Continue reading How far is it to the coast?

Analysing the names of artists in the UK music charts using R

July 31, 2020February 9, 2021 ~ Bob ~ 2 Comments

This is a silly little bit of data crunching and very limited visualisation, based on the names of artists who have been in the UK music charts.  I fancied using R for a change and also trying out notebooks (I’ll explain both a bit below), and this seemed to be about the right size and … Continue reading Analysing the names of artists in the UK music charts using R

Which bits of the EU are closest to the UK?

July 25, 2020February 10, 2021 ~ Bob ~ Leave a comment

This is a short and simple post, that is part 3 in a series: How far away is the most remote part of the UK?How far away is the closest bit of the EU?Which bits of the EU are the closest? The code I wrote to calculate the distances for the previous article also kept … Continue reading Which bits of the EU are closest to the UK?

Describing films and code using pictures

July 18, 2020April 19, 2024 ~ Bob ~ 1 Comment

This article is the combination of a few different things.  For a long time, I’ve wanted to visualise in some way the details of the plot to the film Ocean’s 11.  Also, occasionally I get grumpy about decrees about how people should document their code.  Finally, I recently attended a talk given by my friend … Continue reading Describing films and code using pictures

How far away is the EU?

July 5, 2020February 10, 2021 ~ Bob ~ Leave a comment

This article is part two in a series: How far away is the most remote part of the UK?How far away is the closest part of the EU?Which bits of the EU are the closest? The previous article talked about how I produced a kind of choropleth map – instead of the colour on the … Continue reading How far away is the EU?

Bump or bumps charts

May 13, 2020February 10, 2021 ~ Bob ~ 1 Comment

I recently came across a kind of visualisation called a Bump Chart.  This looked oddly familiar to me, and I realised that I knew it as a Bumps Chart (plural).  I searched the internet to see if one was the origin of the other, but couldn’t find anything. I’m not claiming to be the authoritative … Continue reading Bump or bumps charts

Capital cities and US place names

May 10, 2020February 10, 2021 ~ Bob ~ 3 Comments

This blog post came about because I remembered that there’s a place in Texas called Paris.  That got me to wonder: How many countries’ capitals share a name with somewhere in the USA?  It seemed to be about the right size of project to tackle, and one I could do without any coding.  Like with … Continue reading Capital cities and US place names

How far away from here is the most distant bit of the UK?

February 27, 2020February 11, 2021 ~ Bob ~ 5 Comments

This article is the first in a series: How far away is the most remote part of the UK?How far away is the closest bit of the EU?Which bits of the EU are the closest? I like visualisations, particularly map-based ones.  Done well, it’s as if they give you superpowers or a microscope or telescope … Continue reading How far away from here is the most distant bit of the UK?

K-means clustering and Voronoi maps

February 9, 2019October 13, 2025 ~ Bob ~ Leave a comment

Introduction This article came out of one of those realisations that two things I already knew were linked or even the same thing, like Clark Kent and Superman or regular expressions and finite state machines.  It’s not a new realisation – a minimal amount of Googling showed that the link is in the first paragraph … Continue reading K-means clustering and Voronoi maps

The emotional rollercoaster of automation projects

January 6, 2019February 11, 2021 ~ Bob ~ Leave a comment

Yes, it's another amazing piece of artwork, showing my amazing artistic skill and drawing tools.  If you missed my previous effort, have a look at a previous post on statistics - although I think that the previous post's artistic style is influenced by Wait, But Why, and this one is more influenced by xkcd. I've … Continue reading The emotional rollercoaster of automation projects

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