The city of Linköping in Sweden is now using a highly interactive presentation format for their municipal statistical data. It’s hoped that this will improve understanding and excite attention on the part of the residents.
“By switching to visual data, we can also offer some interactivity with the user. The diagrams, tables and maps are in their basic design relatively simple, but through simple choices, the user can twist and turn the numbers and also use time animation to get an idea of how the situation in the current subject area has changed and developed over time,” said Jimmy Lindahl, head of statistics at Linköping Municipality.
The fact sheets produced by the city’s statistics department are presented using modern web technology to visualize statistics in the form of various animations that the users can control themselves. Data from the municipality and the nearby region is presented in the form of diagrams, tables or maps; can be viewed from either a geographical or a thematic perspective; and may also include comments and analyses.
An example of information that may be extrapolated from these interactive presentations is the differing average age of death rates from COVID-19 in urban vs. rural areas.
“It is possible to see, among other things, that the median earned income is highest for those who live in the smaller urban areas, but also highest for those who have their workplace in the city, at the same time as it is lowest for the residents in the city,” explained Lindahl.
All statistical information is freely available at the Linköping municipal website in Swedish.