1.
Seeing Rich Visualization
through the Data Forest
Seeing Rich Visualization through the Data Forest
An emerging class of interactive visualization applications and techniques are converging
art and science to create stunning—and incredibly useful—visualizations of complex
information. These powerful visual analytics solutions enable a more thorough
understanding and provide actionable insights into previously overwhelming data sets.
Leading this evolving marketplace, Barcelona-based Bestiario has dedicated its work to
the creation of spaces for the collection presentation of knowledge. Working based on
the mantra of “making the complex comprehensible,” the company creates interactive
information spaces in a powerful framework based on graph theory, advanced topological
algorithms, and modeling and geographic representations that enable insightful analysis of
a wide range of abundant data sources.
Bestiario partnered with Zemoga to design the Hoorray Mozaic, an online photo collection
that catalog’s users’ uploaded photographs based on the relationships of each image.
Using the metadata from each photo, including name and event tagging, dates, times,
album names, etc., the site creates a spatial relationship view of all the images, rather than
a scroll-through matrix. Similar to the concept behind “six degrees of separation” or the
As modern data collection and hardware
technologies evolve to gather, process, and store
a mind-bogglingly immense amount of data, it
becomes increasingly challenging for humans to
fully analyze and comprehend this information.
To create consumable, actionable information,
innovative companies from around the world are
developing a class of advanced data visualization
technologies. They are delivering intuitive, graphical
representations from raw data and exploring
opinion
An award-winning
designer and developer
of interactive solutions,
Alejandro Gomez is the
co-founder of Zemoga
and a recognized
industry leader in the
fields of user-centric
design and technology
solutions.
By: Alejandro Gomez
President
Zemoga

2.
“human web,” the graphical presentation allows users
to see and better understand the relationships between
their friends, events, and other correlations based on
the quantitative metadata associated with each image.
This groundbreaking approach to data visualization by
association could be applied in other social spaces as
well, as a visual comparison of trending topics on Twitter
or relational visualization of Facebook status updates,
which could have tremendous potential for marketers
and others who study consumer behavior.
In another project that promises to revolutionize urban
public transportation, Zemoga partnered with Field Office
of Clemson, SC to develop the Bicing community bicycle
program platform in Barcelona. The Bicing program itself
is a shared bicycle rental program that allows users to
pick up and return bikes at various stations positioned
around the city to provide convenient and affordable
climate-friendly transportation.
To make the program more appealing, convenient, and
enticing for users, Field Office and Zemoga designed
the Bicing.com platform to provide real-time availability
and location data overlaid on a city map. The Zemoga-
designed interface leverages the data from each bike to
display each vehicle as a red dot on the Barcelona street
map. With each bike equipped with a GPS sensor device,
visitors to the site can see a graphical snapshot of where
bikes are available, and even watch those in use as they
travel on their journey. Some are even outfitted with a
webcam, allowing Bicing.com visitors to see what the
rider sees along their path.
The interface is not only fun and informational for Bicing
users, but it also has tremendous potential for the future
of traffic analysis. By tracking each vehicle, patterns in
movement and usage begin to emerge that can allow
city planners and transportation officials to analyze traffic
patterns and behaviors beyond tedious and less-than-
insightful number crunching. The same concept could be
easily applied to municipal bus routes, rental cars, and
virtually any other form of transportation.
This kind of cutting-edge data visualization—beyond
traditional quantitative analysis—is becoming a
tremendously powerful tool in the discovery of all types
of knowledge. The proliferation of mobile devices puts
the power of knowing and sharing where we are, what
we’re seeing, and what we’re thinking right in the
palm of our hands. In truth, we as a mobile society are
generating massive amounts of data—data that can
be used to better understand the world around us and
ourselves as human beings.
This article originally appeared in the 2011 SoDA DMO
report.
™ and © 2011, Zemoga Inc. All Rights Reserved.