As we begin to deal with more data coming from a wider variety of places, it’s quickly becoming necessary to either pass that flow through a filter, or present it in quick and easy to understand ways. While the days of mundane charts, graphs, and tables aren’t behind us, the growing “data visualization” field is taking all of the old stand-bys up a few notches. A few books — some new, some old — on the topic have recently come to our attention, so we thought we’d pass the word along.

The new book by David McCandless, The Visual Miscellaneum (pictured), comes recommended to us by Fast Company magazine – see their bit about the book here. For those just dipping their toes into data viz (or who just want to look at interesting graphics), this book is worth a read. McCandless attempts to present “the biggest stories of our time” graphically – and the results are awfully cool. The ideological divide between left and right politics, the seemingly fickle interests of major media coverage over time, and theological evolution are all covered via illustration.

Envisioning Information, by long-time data visualization guru Edward Tufte, comes recommended to us by fellow team member and data pro, Mary Catherine Plunkett. Tufte takes a rigorous, quantitative approach to the layout and translation of data, covering what he sees as universal principles of good data design. While not quite a how-to, the book delves into examples, good and bad, of data design, and what makes for effective communication and why. This title is one of at least 5 others by Tufte on visualization; those may be worth checking out too.

Finally, Beautiful Data, by Toby Segaran, Jeff Hammerbacher, and many other contributors, has a few intriguing chapters on visualization and dealing with flow. This book casts a wider net around the concept of data management as a whole, but the chapters of interest here appear to be written or co-edited by visualization pro Aaron Koblin, and a recent favorite or ours, Nathan Yau. Definitely have a look at Nathan’s work at FlowingData.com.

Pick ‘em up at Amazon, the library, or (even better) your local bookstore.

Image credit: O’Reilly Books & Videos

Geospatial technology is quickly changing the way all of us think, plan, behave, and move around the world. To document these changes, Penn State Public Broadcasting has been busy putting together the Geospatial Revolution Project, a series of short films and educational public media around the lightening-fast developments in the mapping and geospatial technology fields. The project aims to unveil the degree of reliance we increasingly have on geospatial technology — mostly unbeknownst to us — in everything from iPhones and Google Maps to planning for climate change, tracking disease and developing intelligent land use plans.

They’ll be releasing a series of 8 short films, paired with downloadable educational materials geared towards K-12 educators, local government, the private sector, and other groups. For those of you interested in getting a sense of the growing real-world impacts and potential uses of mapping, be sure to follow this project.

We’re looking forward to seeing the final product!

Check out the trailer for the film series, below.