Assignment 2: Data Update 1

For my final report, I will be using the “Food Vendors” dataset. This dataset includes the location and information about the food vendors specifically on the streets of Vancouver. It is not inclusive of roaming food vendors. The URL for my dataset is: http://data.vancouver.ca/datacatalogue/foodVendors.htm

This dataset contains the key, latitude, longitude, vendor type, status, business name and the location of the food vendors on Vancouver streets. Here is a list of the attributes in detail:

·      KEY: A unique identifier for each street food vendor business

·      LAT: The latitude of the vendor measured from the equator in degrees.

·      LON: The longitude of the vendor measured in degrees from the Zero Meridian.

·      VENDOR_TYPE: The type of vendor business.

·      STATUS: Either as open (food cart permit has been issued) or Pending (permit is in application, evaluation or renewal stage)

·      BUSINESS_NAME: The business name of the vendor.

·      LOCATION: The approximate location of the vendor business.

·      DESCRIPTION: The type of food the vendor sells.

I don’t understand why some business names are left blank in the Excel file. The dataset attributes explains that if this field is left blank, then it is similar to the Description field data. Even though it describes the type of food, it still leaves me wondering what the actual business name is. I could find out the real name by wandering the streets of Vancouver and locating each business, although this would take too much time.

Some questions I hope to answer with my data include:

1.     What are the most common types of street vendors in Vancouver?
2.     Where is the most populated area with food vendors in Vancouver?
3.     How many street vendors are open or pending?

Assignment 1 - Data Viz Analysis: Italy Burns

While searching tableau public, I came across an interesting data visualization of the amount of forest fires per year in Italy. Being Italian myself, I found this visualization to catch my attention immediately because of the headline, “Italy Burns: The Business of Summer Wild Fires.”

Link: 

https://public.tableau.com/profile/niccol.#!/vizhome/LItaliabruciailBusinessdegliincendiestivi/ITA

Firstly, the title itself contradicts the actual data visualization (highlighted in red box – although the title is in Italian, I translated it into English), given that the chart only shows the amount of forest fires per year. Yet, in surrounding text around the chart, the creator claims “the main cause of 7,700 detected [forest fires] per year in Italy in the last 20 years – which burnt a surface as big as Latium – is arson for profit reason.” Where exactly did the creator get this information? There are no links or sources to back her fact up, yet she makes an incredible assumption that these fires are happening for the sole reason of profit.

How does this affect the data viz aspect? Considering the claim and the title, the data viz does not even match up. In her chart, the creator shows only the amount of fires per year. Nowhere on the chart are there any profit numbers to back up her title. Moreover, the chart itself is flawed, too.

Like discussed in class, it is crucial to look at a bare chart – a chart that without numbers to accompany it, will still make sense. If you take away the numbers above each little fire bar, the chart is very unclear as too exactly how many fires are happening each year (highlighted in green box). Yes, we can see that there are fluctuations in numbers over the years, but we are left to guess what exactly the creator is trying to compare. A more appropriate chart to show data over time would have been a line chart, which I feel the creator should have chosen instead.

I commend the creator’s efforts in attempting to use a fancy fire bar chart in order to show the amount of fires per year. She did start with a baseline of zero, which ensures that the data is correct and does not mislead us with false information.

Overall, I feel the creator should have chosen a different chart (line chart) and should have included figures of dollar amounts that she feels are attributed to arson profit gain. If the story truly is about the “business of summer wildfires,” then the creator should have found a way to show the audience rather than tell us without some sort of source or number value to accompany the data visualization.