APPROACHES TO VISUALIZATION OF TRADE NETWORKS

Ryan DennistonDuke Data Visualization Friday ForumNovember 16, 2012

Outline

• The nature of the problem(s)

• Non-spatial approaches (Excel)

• Spatial approaches (ArcGIS)

• Sharing options

The ProjectPolitical economy of tobacco control in Southeast Asia

• Southeast Asia increasingly wealthy, one of the few areas with low female prevalence

The ProjectPolitical Economy of tobacco control in Southeast Asia

• Liberalized markets heighten importance of trade to health outcomes

• Principal origins and destinations of cigarettes within and from outside the region

• Especially large flows, indicative of transit points

• Trade discrepancies, suggesting smuggling activity

• Regional manufacturing hubs

The ProjectASEAN Region – AFTA operational in 1996

The Nature of the ProblemProvide a clear understanding of the underlying data• How important are the methods for the results?• Case selection (year, categories, etc.)

Effective communication to applied audiences• Visible impact with minimal explanation• Compelling• Mitigation of data anomalies (missing data, etc.)

Balance between comprehensiveness and complexity• At what point is the visualization overwhelming?• Who is the audience?

Project DataData• Time series, cross sectional (annual)

• Multiple levels of analysis

• Typical sources: UN Comtrade, FAO

Bilateral Trade Data

Non-Spatial Examples – Grouped Bars

• Visualizes relative positions of cases• Year and case selection not apparent• Single variable, no groupings without data manipulation

Cambodia Indonesia Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam

-30,000

-20,000

-10,000

0

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

Net Trade, Cigarettes, Volume Basis

199020002008

Non-Spatial Examples – Stacked Column

2000 2005 2010

-300000000

-250000000

-200000000

-150000000

-100000000

-50000000

0

50000000Vietnamese Cigarette Trade Discrepancies, Major Partners

Singapore China, Hong Kong SAR China, Macao SAR Malaysia Australia Germany France Greece United KingdomBrazil

• Visualizes relative positions of cases• Year selection not apparent

Non-Spatial Examples – Line Charts

• Limited case selection

• Outliers and volatile data may cause problems

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

Tobacco Production, 1990-2009

Cambodia Indonesia Laos MalaysiaPhilippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam Source: FAOSTAT

Non-Spatial Examples – Line Chart

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

Cigarette Exports, 1990-2009

Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand Vietnam

Source: UN Comtrade and FAOSTAT

Non-Spatial Examples – Line Chart

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Percentage of Cigarette Exports to ASEAN Region, Volume Basis, 1990-2009

Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Philippines Singapore Thailand

Source: UN Comtrade and FAOSTATNote: ASEAN region defined as eight selected countries

Non-Spatial Examples – Radar Chart

Production (kg per capita)

Exports (kg per capita)

Consumption (kg per capita)

Imports (kg per capita) 0

1

2

Prototype Profile of Country with Little Trade Exposure

Non-Spatial Examples – Radar Chart

Production (kg per capita)

Exports (kg per capita)

Consumption (kg per capita)

Imports (kg per capita) 0

1

2

Prototype Profile of Country with Likely Transshipments

Non-Spatial Examples – Radar ChartProduction, MT

Exports, MT

Consumption, MT

Imports, MT -

50,000

100,000

20002008

Source: UN Comtrade and FAOSTATSource: UN Comtrade and FAOSTAT

Cigarette Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports, Vietnam 1990-2008

Non-Spatial Examples – Radar ChartProduction, MT

Exports, MT

Consumption, MT

Imports, MT 0

20000

40000

199020002008

Source: UN Comtrade and FAOSTATSource: UN Comtrade and FAOSTAT

Cigarette Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports, Singapore, 1990-2008

Non-Spatial Examples – Radar ChartProduction, MT

Exports, MT

Consumption, MT

Imports, MT -

20,000

40,000

199020002008

Source: UN Comtrade and FAOSTATSource: UN Comtrade and FAOSTAT

Cigarette Production, Consumption, Exports, and Imports, Cambodia, 1990-2008

Non-Spatial Examples - TradeoffsProblems• Data volatility when range of years displayed• Outliers distort when multiple cases displayed• Repeated cross-section (year selection)• Limited number of cases due to complexity• Others?

Spatial Examples – GIS SoftwareArcGIS essentially Excel with a column containing a shape (set of ordered coordinates)

• Qgis is an alternate program

• Recent tools launched to plot spatial data (addresses, lat/lon, some polygon sets, custom boundaries)

Spatial Examples – Choropleth Maps

Spatial Examples – Choropleth Maps

Spatial Examples – Choropleth Maps

Spatial ExamplesPotential problems• Year-over year volatility• Threshold selection (across cases and over time)• Zero value, not available• Time series, ArcGIS does not sense minimum and maximum• Trade networks at different level of analysis

Levels of analysis• Freeze one country, report its bilateral values over time• Find or create new layer at correct level of analysis

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/2.avi

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

Spatial Examples – Bilateral Trade

http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/4-incomplete.avi

Spatial ExamplesProblems• Volatility of data remains• Tradeoff between complexity and comprehensiveness• Threshold selection• Stability possible with grouping, data transformation

http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/Untitled.avi

Spatial ExamplesArcScene is a 3D visualization and analysis program bundled with Map. Designed for x y z data, but can be coerced to multidimensional data.Mathematica, R, Matlab are other, likely better alternatives

Tableau 7

Tableau 7 - Sharinghttp://public.tableausoftware.com/views/ag_nc/Sheet1

Tableau 7 – Custom Layershttp://public.tableausoftware.com/views/autos_test_1/Sheet1?:embed=y

Tableau 7 – Custom Layers

ArcGIS Online - Geocoding

ArcGIS Onlinehttps://dukeuniv.maps.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=213f0e846ea84d03b198b9339645a936&extent=-8797614.54634536,4293258.24833525,-8771524.04069068,4306656.81009333

http://people.duke.edu/~rcd2/arcgis.html

ArcGIS Online – Multiple Layers and Typeshttps://dukeuniv.maps.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=e43f3f5ef5b74d70b67ce9a9c49eef24&extent=-4388260.72929949,3794930.68242125,6008705.13322915,9285828.27856918

Google Fusion Tables

Google Fusion Tables

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1AwhNH8tuJE1DKDCS2XIXE7coEn97mnjdWKt9Z-Q

Google Fusion Tables

https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1KGksrlD62Rbf0ZbymCMmQvnZohNwfhTFjiz64g

LinksVids1. http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/2.avi2. http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/4-incomplete.avi3. http://www.duke.edu/~rcd2/Untitled.avi

Sites1. http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/ag_nc/Sheet12. http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/autos_test_1/Sheet1?:embed=y3. https://dukeuniv.maps.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=213f0e846ea84d03b198b9339645a936&extent=-8797614.54634536,4293258.24833525,-8771524.04069068,4306656.810093334. https://dukeuniv.maps.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=e43f3f5ef5b74d70b67ce9a9c49eef24&extent=-4388260.72929949,3794930.68242125,6008705.13322915,9285828.278569185. http://people.duke.edu/~rcd2/arcgis.html6. https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?docid=1KGksrlD62Rbf0ZbymCMmQvnZohNwfhTFjiz64g