Introduction

Looking back on all my labs for the course I realised my interest focused on geographic data. I explored the evolution of cartography with maps of Jamaica using TimelineJS, visualised World Happiness on a map using Tableau, examined connections between characters and locations from Raiders of the Lost Arc using Gephi, and analysed 2010 New York population and voting using Carto.

For my final, I created a visualisation comparing the British Colonial Empire in 1922 and the British Commonwealth, Dependencies and Overseas Territories of 2017. I chose this topic because as a member of the Commonwealth Realm I find this information interesting. When I first started collecting data for this visualisation I had the goal of creating a motion map showing the rise and decline of the British Empire (see Example 1). I planned on segmenting the Empire into the following time periods: “First British Empire” (1583-1783), Rise of the “Second” British Empire (1783-1815), Britain’s Imperial Century (1815-1914), World Wars (1914-1945), and the decline (1945-1997). However, unable to find or create shapefiles for these years I decided to reduce the data two years 1922 and 2017. At its height, the British Empire was the largest empire in history, often described as “the empire on which the sun never sets.” By 1920, it covered a quarter of Earth’s total land area. After World War II, the process of decolonisation began with the self-determination of peoples. India, the British Empire’s most valuable and populous possession, gained its independence in 1947. In 1997, the return of Hong Kong to China marked for many the end of the Empire. Following independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states.

The United Kingdom along with 15 independent countries are a grouping known as Commonwealth Realms. These countries share Queen Elizabeth II as a common head of state.

Visualisation Examples

For this data, I wanted to create a visualisation that displayed change. I wanted the user to be able to explore the growth and decline of the British Empire. They would be able to see the strategic political and economic spread of the empire and the decline following World War II.

Exmple1: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/British_Empire_evolution3.gif

Materials

Software:

• TableauPublic
• OpenRefine

Research Resources:

• Google
• Wikipedia
• TableauPublic

Visualisation Process

1. Create dataset
2. Clean up dataset using OpenRefine
3. Import data to Tableau Public
   1. Preview of the dataset will be created
   2. Make any modifications to dataset here
4. Open first worksheet
5. Drag and drop fields onto the canvas (white space)
6. Edit locations
   1. Many of the locations in my data are unknown to Tableau since they are the colonial names and required manual matching to present day countries
   2. Manually input latitude and longitude for locations not included in Tableau shapefile, however, this only puts a single point and does not shade the entire area
7. Make aliases
   1. More than one colony may have been joined to make a present-day country
   2. If more than one colony is designated to a present-day country on the map Tableau only displays one (e.g. Canada and Newfoundland combined into Canada)
   3. For all colony names to be displayed on the pop up on the 1922 map I created aliases [e.g. Canada (1922)(2017), Newfoundland (1922)]
8. Format the visualisation by dragging and dropping fields onto Marks box:
   1. Country on Detail
   2. Designation on Colour
9. Format the visualisation by dragging and dropping fields onto Filters box:
   1. Year
      1. Check “show filter”
   2. Country
      1. Check “show highlighter”
      2. Use “highlighter” over “filter” since the list is so long
10. Create a dashboard
    1. Dashboard is not mobile compatible
11.  Publish to web
    1. Share visualisations using embed link or URL link

Visualisation

I created a map visualisation to compare the British Empire in 1922 and the British Commonwealth, Dependencies and Overseas Territories of 2017. At first, I created separate maps for the years and combined them on the dashboard. I thought having the maps separated would be easier for the user to understand, however, combining two maps, legends, and country list on the dashboard was cumbersome. I then combined 1922 and 2017 and used filters. The dashboard contains a title, brief explanation of the British Empire, filters (year, designation, country), and the map.

UX Recruitment and Method

My users would be interested and/or have some knowledge of in areas like British Empire, British history, colonisation, political science, or geography. There would no age restriction to my users; however, old users may have trouble navigating the filters.

My user group I tested consisted of varying ages: two between the ages of 25-30 and one from the each of the following ranges, 40-45, 50-55, and 60-65. Four are from Commonwealth Realms and received primary school education in British history, two studied international relations and geography at the undergraduate level, and one studied Comparative Politics in Empires at the graduate level.

The research was conducted remotely and in person. I kept the user testing informal and conversational. I allowed the user time to navigate the visualisation and then moved into an open conversation format.

UX Findings

User One (age: 25-30, international relations and geography at the undergraduate level):

• Font used for contextual information needs to be larger
• Designation colours are too similar
• British Colonial Empire designation obscured the others

User Two (age: 25-30, from Commonwealth Realms and received primary school education in British history, international relations and geography at the undergraduate level, Comparative Politics in Empires at the graduate level):

• Font used for contextual information should be cleaner and larger
• Designation colours are too similar
• Designation categories should be reduced from three to two by joining British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies
• Pointed out that the 2017 map was missing the Australia Antarctic Territory and Ross Dependency
• When using the Designation filter it removes the other options (on the back end it just shades them out) and to get them back you have to refresh

User Three (age: 50-55, from Commonwealth Realms and received primary school education in British history):

• Focused on the text
• Focused on the text in the pop-ups
• Found using Tableau map tools difficult

User Four (age 40-45) from Commonwealth Realms and received primary school education in British history):

• Focused on the text
• Grammar edits
• Designation colours are too similar

User Five (age 60-65, from Commonwealth Realms and received primary school education in British history):

• Focused on the text
• Focused on the text in the pop-ups
• Would like more navigation instructions

Changes made based on the UX research were: designation colours, designation categories, added locations, larger font, clearer font, grammar edits, text edits, and label edits.

Design Choices

The British Empire is most commonly coloured on maps in pink. There are two possible reasons why pink became the recognised colour. The original colour associated with the Empire was red, however, printing red on the map made readability difficult. The colour would obscure the names of the countries. As a compromise mapmakers/printers used pink. A more historical reasoning is that the pink represents the Tudor Rose, the combination of the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York.

For clarity, I used dark blue (Commonwealth Realm) and red (British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies) to provide a contrast with the pink (British Colonial Empire). I combined British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies into one category to keep the filter options and colours at three, as too many colours and options confused the users.

The dashboard offers users three filter options: year, designation and country. The user is free to explore the map using a combination of the filters. Country is provided in the form of a drop-down menu to reduce clutter on the dashboard. Country name and designation are provided to the user as “details on demand” by brushing over a selection. Some of the countries (e.g. Cayman Islands) require the use of the zoom feature.

Recommendations

Due to limitations in time and skill, I was unable to create the visualisation I imagined.

Revisions for this visualisation include:

1. Finding or creating accurate shapefiles for a more precise indication of an area on the map. The Tableau shapefile does not recognise some of the areas I needed to identify (e.g. British Antarctic Territory).
2. When using the “Highlight Country” filter the map does not zoom to the selection so the user still has to manual navigate around the map.
3. The map opens with North America on the right, which can be disorientating for users.
4. Be able to create different tooltip text for the two years [e.g. Canada(1922)(2017), Newfoundland (1922)]
5. Addition of more years for a fuller picture of the growth and decline of the Empire
6. Create a motion map