Open Government Daily

OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer... An excellent way of visualizing data... Good usage of fractals.

 

"Big data" is a growing issue in science and industry, as modern computing has enabled large amounts of data to be captured and stored, revolutionizing many branches of science. These advances, however, also lead to challenges, such as how to explore and visualize large data sets.

The very first blue-skies idea that could have been identified with OneZoom was that of a mind map so vast that it could contain all human knowledge. The concept involved making the information easy to explore by laying it out in ever smaller bubbles using a fractal structure and a zooming interface so that the computer never runs out of space to put the information no matter how much there is.

 

OneZoom is committed to heightening awareness about the diversity of life on earth, its evolutionary history and the threats of extinction. This website allows you to explore the tree of life in a completely new way: it's like a map, everything is on one page, all you have to do is zoom in and out. OneZoom also provides free, open source, data visulation tools for science and education.

Via Lauren Moss, Jason Hare