{"id":8209,"date":"2017-12-10T22:13:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T03:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.prattsils.org\/?p=8209"},"modified":"2018-01-06T16:07:28","modified_gmt":"2018-01-06T21:07:28","slug":"empire-sun-never-sets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentwork.prattsi.org\/infovis\/visualization\/empire-sun-never-sets\/","title":{"rendered":"The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cFirst British Empire\u201d (1583-1783), Rise of the “Second” British Empire\u00a0(1783-1815), Britain’s\u00a0Imperial 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 \u201cthe 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\u00a0its independence\u00a0in 1947. In 1997, the\u00a0return\u00a0of Hong Kong to China marked for many the end of the Empire. Following independence, many former British colonies joined the\u00a0Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states.<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom along with 15 independent countries are a grouping known as Commonwealth Realms. These countries share Queen Elizabeth II as a\u00a0common head of state.<\/p>\n

Visualisation Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Exmple1: https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/33\/British_Empire_evolution3.gif<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Materials<\/strong><\/p>\n

Software:<\/p>\n