Original Data Visualisation

The original Data Visualisation is definitely confusing and have some flaws to improve for its aesthetic at Quadrant III.

1.0 Critiques and Suggestions

1.1 Clarity

S/N	Critiques	Suggestion
C1	Solid color dots in the dot plot are overlapping. As such it is challenging to visualize especially the cluttered area where we do not know how many dots are underneath. Dot plot has its advantage to know the exact location of each event.	To use a proportional symbol map with transparency and size of the circle to represent the amount to make it clearer and easier to extract the numbers as we do not need to count each individual dot. To add on more details and improve clarity using Bar chart and making use of tooltips. Besides, adding a toggleable density heatmap would retain the exact location of each event and provide a different perspective on the concentration of events(filterable) which in the current dot plot is hidden. Toggleable Proportional Symbol pie chart map would also provide an overview by country or state of the breakdown overview.
C2	The line chart doesn’t start from 0 as it may be visually misleading to the actual scale from the overview.	Ensure Line charts start from 0.
C3	Tick marks for continuous scale in the line chart are missing. The line chart without dots for the points is hard to read.	Include tick marks and dot for the line charts.

1.2 Aesthetic

S/N	Critiques	Suggestion
A1	Count of sheet has no meaning in the Line chart	To Re-label as No of Events
A2	Repeated line charts for each event type lower the data-ink-ratio.	To have event type segregated by colors on the same chart which reduce the repeated scales and texts and allow better comparison between the event types.
A3	Not color blind friendly as the event type contains both red and green color which can be challenging to color blind users.	Do not use Red and Green colors in same chart. Only using either one of the two colors.

1.3 Interactive Techniques

S/N	Critiques	Suggestion
I1	The dashboard is showing from year 2015 to 2020. However, there is no filtering by years restricting user from selecting the time frame.	Include Year slider filter to allow user to dynamically select the year range
I2	The chart only allows filter by one country or all and is unable to drill down by to compare by state. So, can it be hard to compare across selected countries.	To allow drilling down to state for both Map and line charts and filtering to allow multiselect so can be compared across countries or between states.
I3	No interactive coordination between the charts. You have to select and filter/highlight the two chart individually or using the filter panels.	Create highlight and filter actions to have coordinate interactivity between the charts more engaging and intuitively. To also include toggling of charts to allow more exploratory options. Such as stackedbar chart with on the fly sorting.
I4	The map will re location and zoom to the selected country. This is a good interaction to maintain.	Apart from just maintaining the relocation of selected country. To add in interactive by allowing user to click the country on the map as a filter to select and zoom into the map/bar&line charts.

2.0 Sketch of Proposed Design

Map can be toggled by different views by proportional symbol map(size of circle by event type) , proportional piechart map (overview of breakdown using piechart) and density heatmap to see the hotspots of overall or filter by country/event type.
Tooltips have details and pie chart breakdown by country and state for comparison within and between the countries.
Bar chart can show better number of event and fatalities supplement the map charts. On-the-fly sorting using set action improves the stacked bar chart to compare between the countries and state by event type easily.
Able to toggle bar and line chart allows different perspective sich as trend using line chart or by total amount using stacked bar chart.
Using of highlight/filter actiosn allow interactively and intuitive selection/highlighting of the charts within the dashboard.

3.0 Data Visualization Step-by-step guide

3.1 Data preparation

S/N	Interface	Step	Action
1	Data Source	Load CSV	• Unzip source dataset Southeast-Asia_2010-2020_Oct31.zip. • Drag Southeast-Asia_2010-2020_Oct31.xlsx into Tableau to load data into sheet.
2	Data Source	Create Calculated Fields	Create Calculated Fields for • Event - 1 • State - case[Country] when “Philippines” then [Admin2] else [Admin1] END

3.2 Geospatial charts

S/N	Interface	Step	Action
3	Proportionalsymbol map	Create new worksheet	• Create new worksheet name Proportionalsymbolmap
4	Proportionalsymbol map	Create Hierarchy	• Create Hierachy for Event Type and Sub Event Type Region, Country and State
5	Proportionalsymbol map	Create Proportionalsymbol Map	• Drag Longitude and Latitude to Columns and Rows • Change Mark to Circle • Drag Country and State to Detail • Drag Fatalities to Tooltip • Drag Event Type to Color • Drag Event to Size • Click Color and change Opacity to 50% and respective Event Type Color with Tableau 10
6	Proportionalsymbol map	Edit missing States	• Under Map -> Edit Location • Edit outdated state location with the following matching location
7	Proportionalsymbol map	Create Country Map	• Drag Latitude to Rows again to create a new chart • Change mark to Map. • Drag Country to detail • Drag Event and Fatalities to Tooltip • Click on Dual Axis to combine the two charts.
8	Proportional Piechart Map	Create new worksheet and Piechart Map	• Create new worksheet name Proportional Piechart Map • Drag Longitude (generated) and Latitude (generated) to Columns and Rows • Change Mark to Pie • Drag Event Type to Color • Drag Event to Size and Angle • Drag Country and State to Detail • Drag Fatalities to Tooltip
9	Proportional Piechart Map	Create Country Map	• Drag Latitude to Rows again to create a new chart • Change Mark to Map • Drag Country to detail • Drag Event and Fatalities to Tooltip • Click Color change Opacity to 85% • Click from rows Latitude (generated) to Dual Axis to combine the two charts.
10	Heatmap	Create new worksheet and Heatmap	• Create new worksheet name Heatmap • Drag Longitude and Latitude to Columns and Rows • Change Mark to Density • Drag the following fields to the respective marks • Click color and change color to Density Multi-color light • Intensity and opacity to 90% and Halo to none
11	Proportionalsymbol map	Create parameter for Map toggling	• Create new parameter Select View • Change Data type to String • Click list and enter the names of the three map worksheets as shown.
12	Proportionalsymbol map	Create Calculated Field for Map toggling	• Create new Calculated Field Display Sheet [Select View] • Drag the newly created field Display Sheet to Filter • Select Custom Value list and Enter All and the SheetName Proportionalsymbolmap • Repeat this step to Proportional Piechart Map and Heatmap • Use show parameter and test the parameter selection. • The respective chart will only appear when the sheetname is selected.

S/N	Interface	Step	Action
13	PieCountry	Create Country Pie chart for Tooltip	• Create new worksheet name PieCountry • Drag Country to Columns • Change Mark to Pie • Drag Event Type to Color and Event to Angle • Edit Calculation for Sum(Event) as shown • Click Label to show Mark • The pie chart is complete to use to show country Pie chart in tool tip
14	PieState	Create State Pie chart for Tooltip	• Duplicate the sheet and rename as PieState. • Replace Country with state. • The piechart is complete to use to show State Pie chart in tooltip
15	Proportionalsymbolmap	update tootip	• Map Tooltip Total Events: <SUM(Event)> Total Fatalities: <SUM(Fatalities)> Latitude: <AVG(Latitude)> Longitude: <AVG(Longitude)> • Circle Tooltip Event Type: Total Event: <SUM(Event)> Total Fatalities: <SUM(Fatalities)> Latitude: <AVG(Latitude)> Longitude: <AVG(Longitude)>
16	Proportional Piechart Map	update tootip	• Map Tooltip Total Events: <SUM(Event)> Total Fatalities: <SUM(Fatalities)> Latitude: <Latitude (generated)> Longitude: <Longitude (generated)> • Pie Tooltip Event Type: < Event Type > Total Event: <SUM(Event)> Total Fatalities: <SUM(Fatalities)> Latitude: <Latitude (generated)> Longitude: <Longitude (generated)>

3.4 Bar & Line Charts

S/N	Interface	Step	Action
17	Bar & Line	Create parameter for Chart Toggling	• Create new worksheet Bar & Line • Create parameter for Bar and Line Chart Toggling. • Create new parameter Select Chart • Change Data type to String • Click list and enter Bar, Line, Bar & Line
18	Bar & Line	Create Bar & Line chart	• Drag Country and Event Date to Columns • Drag Event to Rows four times to create bar and line charts for number of events and number fatalities. if [Select Chart] <> “Line” then sum([Event])else null END if [Select Chart] <> “Bar” then sum([Event])else null END if [Select Chart] <> “Line” then sum([Fatalities])else null END if [Select Chart] <> “Bar” then sum([Fatalities])else null END • Drag Event Type to color for the four Marks and set border • Set Markers as ALL for the lines charts to display the dots. • Apply dual axis for events and fatalities. • Edit x axis to remove axis title • Edit Y axis title to No of Events and No of Fatalities respectively
19	Bar & Line	Update Tooltip	• Update the Tooltip as follows. Number of events to insert using the respective from the insert drop down. Country: < Country > Event Type: < Event Type > Year of Event Date: <YEAR(Event Date)> Number of Events: <AGG(if [Select Chart] <<>> “Line” then sum([Event])else null END)> Number of Fatalities: <SUM(Fatalities)>
20	Bar & Line	Test Chart toggling	• Use the parameter Select Chart to test the chart toggling.

3.5 Dashboard

S/N	Interface	Step	Action
21	Title	Create dynamic Title for dashboard	• Create title worksheet • Drag Event date and country to Mark • Edit title to SouthEast Asia Armed Conflict Events and Locations ( < Country > ), between <YEAR(Event Date)>
22	Dashboard	Create Dashboard and place mapchart	• Create Dashboard • Drag vertical object into left side of the canvas for placeholder. • Drag Proportionalsymbol map, Proportional Piechart Map and heatmap worksheep into vertical object and hide all their title. • Enable parameter Select View and set as float.
23	Dashboard	Place Bar & Line chart	• Drag Bar & Line to right side of the canvas • Hide Chart title • Drag text to use as static title No of Events & Fatalities by Event Type for the bar and line chart. • Enable parameter Select Chart and align beside it.
24	Dashboard	Place Title, Filters and Legends	• Drag title into top of the canvas • Enable filters for Country, Event type and Event Date and rename as Filter Country, Filter Event Type and Year. • Set all filters with apply to worksheet with All using this dataset for the filters to change charts. • Enable Legend with Event Type • Drag text to bottom of the canvas and edit text as Source: The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project https://acleddata.com • Adjust placement to and finetune the look and feel.
25	Dashboard	Create Actions for interactivity	• Under dashboard -> action, create new highlight action • This will allow interactive highlighting across the charts.
26	Dashboard	Create on-the-fly stackedbar chart with highlight	• Create Calculated field Stack Bar Sort with value IIF([Event Type Set],1000000000,[Event]) • Create event type set by Right click event type -> create -> Set • From event Type legend go to sort and sort by the following settings. • Under dashboard -> action, create new Set action with the following settings. • Lastly Under dashboard -> action, create new highlight action • Now click on the bar chart and you will see the bar reorder on the fly based on selection and the map will also be highlighted by the event type
27	Dashboard	Create Map zoom in filter	• Finally, to allow clicking on the county map shape to filter and zoom into the specific country • create filter action with the following • Click on one of the country e.g Myanmar and Map chart will zoom in while the bar chart will filter out.

3.6 Final Dashboard

https://public.tableau.com/profile/zlli#!/vizhome/DatavizMakeover3-South-eastAsiaArmedConflictAnalysis/Dashboard1

4.0 Major observations

1) Overview landscape of SouthEast Asia Region

From the Proportional PieChart Map, we can easily see the type of events overview in the Southsea Asia region, from 2015-2020. In the north, we have the warring states Myanmar observed its borders having battles(red) and explosions(orange) events with protest(blue) in the central states.

For Thailand, in the north are mainly protest and the south with a higher concentration of battle and explosion events.

For the most part of Indonesia, states are protest(blue) events except Papua in the far east.

Philippines is mostly having events of Violence against civilians (beige color) with its south mixed with a high number of Battles and explosion events.

2) Philippine has the highest number of events and fatalities in the Southeast Asia region.

The number of event and fatalities have reduced from 3194 and 4202, to 1381 and 1205 from year 2015 to 2020. They are mostly contributed by Violence against civilians.

Drilling into the Philippine’s states, In fact the majority of the events and fatalities happened in a few key states such as Metro Manila, Bulacan , Cebu and Lanao del Sur, with others spread across the nation as shown in the line chart.

Despite have a great reduction in events and fatalities from 2015 to 2020, Philippines is still the highest in fatalities and second highest in number of events in 2020.

3) Myanmar Battles and Explosions events are concentrated in a few key states

such as Shan, Rakhine and Kachin battlefronts. The intense battle with Arakan Army in Rakhine state escalated in 2019 resulted increase in number of battle events in 2019 to 2020. https://asiatimes.com/2019/01/arakan-army-clashes-with-government-forces-in-rakhine-state/

Unlike Myanmar, Philippines’s Battle and Explosion are spread across the nations.

4) Indonesia has the highest number of protests in 2020 with 1050 events.

And when we filter by protest, we can see the major cluster of the protest cluster in the SEA region cross the years from 2015 to 2020. The fatalities are much lesser compared with the other events with most noticeable of highest 8 counts death come from protests in Cambodia 2018 despite having much lesser protest event in the region.

5) Indonesia also holds the highest number of riots in the region.

With highest concentration in West Java and South Sulawesi as shown in the density heat map. Although the number of riots in 2019 is slightly lesser than 2020, the number of fatalities is much higher at 79 deaths.

Which after drilling down to states, the fatalities are mainly contributed to Papua’s Riot in 2019, having 53 deaths of total 79. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/07/indonesia-investigate-riot-deaths-papua

Dataviz Makeover 3