Does this power plant visualisation convey too much information?

Visual Design
#1

Hello all. I have created a visualization using the below referenced dataset. It shows the distribution of power plants across Norway and Sweden and the estimated generation for each fuel type.

Image:

SwedenLayout
SwedenLayout2000×1600 888 KB

My question: Does this visualization convey too much information by combining the map and bar charts? If so, how can it be altered?

Visual Design Type : Map + Barcharts
Name of Tool : Tableau
Country : Sweden, Norway

Source : http://datasets.wri.org/dataset/globalpowerplantdatabase

Reference: Nordic Energy Research. 10 Insights into the Nordic energy system. 2018.06.14.

Year : 2013-2017 (Estimated)
Visual Mappings :
Map:
X-Axis, Y- Axis : Longitude , Latitude
Mark : Circle
Size: Sum (Estimated_generation_GWh)
Colour : Primary Fuel (Automatic Colour Palette)

Barcharts:
X-Axis, Y- Axis : primary_fuel , Sum(Estimated Generation)
Mark : Bar
Size: Sum (Estimated_generation_GWh)
Colour : Primary Fuel (using Automatic Colour Palette)
Filters: Country: Sweden, Norway

Unique Observation :

  • Sweden Generates the same amount of output (Around 64,000 GWh ) from It’s 3 nuclear plants to its approx. 100 Hydro plants (Around 63,000 GWh).
  • Norway generates nearly all of it’s power from hydro plants.

Data Preparation :

  • Aggregation of estimated generation GWh.
  • Filtering latitude range (-179.1338 to 177.4995)
  • Filtering latitude range (-34.227 to 71.292)

Thank you in advance.

#2

Overall this visualisation is very effective and it looks very nice. However, it might be worth considering Shneiderman’s Mantra of ‘Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand’. This could be achieved by removing the bar charts and putting their information within a tool top, or have the information pop up when the user has requested.

However, this is a very effective visualisation and it looks very nice. Well done!

#3

Hi,

This is a great portrayal of a unique area of the world i have seen so far throughout this data set posts.

I feel this could benefit from being interactive as stated by Andy. But as this is an image based visualisation i would suggest combining both bar charts into a single side-by-side bar chart. Labeling the country alongside the fuel type. It could even be possible to remove the fuel type label on the side-by-side bar chart as the colour coded legend already portrays this information. The legends for circle size and colour of fuel type could then be placed where the removed 2nd bar chart was, removing the need for white space on the right hand side of the image.

Hopefully this helps.

Thanks