MILWAUKEE STAT

Not exactly intuitive, but something fun to hang on your wall.

In the interest of expediting the journey towards bicycle-friendly cities and eliminating misconceptions, Copenhagenize Design Co. has produced The Copenhagenize Bicycle Planning Guide.

The beauty of the bicycle infrastructure network in Copenhagen is the uniform design of the infrastructure. There are, by and large, four types of infrastructure - all represented in this graphic. Based on the speed limit for cars, you select the appropriate style of infrastructure and off you go.

If you fancy sending your local planner/engineer a gift that keeps on giving, this graphic is also available as a poster.

A shameful first place for Wisconsin. More fine reporting from Urban Milwaukee’s Bruce Murphy:

No state comes close to Wisconsin in imprisoning black males. The study found that 12.8 percent, or 1 in 8 of African American working age men, were incarcerated. That rate is 32 percent higher than the second worst state, Oklahoma, and nearly double the national average of 6.7 percent (or 1 in 15).

Here’s the full report from the UW-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute.

nycopendata:

Aaron Schumacher submitted this data visualization of daily entrances into the MTA subway system. According to Aaron:

“Start with open data, then some processing, and eventually you can make a picture like this. You can also check out the interactive version, where you can see the date and number of entrances for about three years worth of subway traffic. You can clearly see traffic changes around major holidays, and especially the effects around hurricanes Irene and Sandy.”

From the New Yorker comes this nifty interactive visualization of income inequality encountered along NYC’s subway lines. I appreciate the spare style of this work.

However, it fails to address one of its key assertions: that income inequality is “getting worse.” Too bad, I would have liked to have seen that too.

h/t tofias

A new flag for Milwaukee

I like it.

Perhaps if it was called something like the “Milwaukee Civic Flag” we could avoid the political and bureaurcratic hurdles of replacing the City’s official – and horrendous – flag.

And why not position the new flag as a Greater Milwaukee icon? Milwaukee County and surrounding municipalities could fly the civic flag as well. 

For more on flags and civc iconography see the Urbanophile’s excellent post on Chicago’s flag.

milwaukier-than-thou:

just in time for 4/14 day, a group’s designed a new flag for milwaukee. according to them: 

DESIGN DIRECTION

A few traits have long established Milwaukee as the city it is- our great lake and cream city brick. Not only is the lake a strong geographical feature, but it continues to serve as a source of cutting edge research in the city. And cream city brick can be found in many beautiful old buildings, a distinct architectural feature for Milwaukee. Today we are also moving forward in many aspects of sustainability, notably as leaders in urban farming. The colors we have chosen represent each of these strong characteristics. 

Unlike the current flag, we have chosen not to limit our city to icons. The triangular shapes represent movement and growth, which is a constant for the city. The stripes give reference to water as well as agriculture, something that relates us to our state as well. As we continue to grow and innovate, we come together as a community, represented by the intersecting point in the flag.

thoughts?

File under: publicly financed stadium debate

This data viz uses credit card transaction data to assess the commercial impact of the Final Four in Atlanta. The author’s take on public financing of sports stadiums:

Do stadiums really generate revenue for cities? It’s a complicated question, but the short answer is: 1) Yeah, some, but 2) Not nearly enough to offset the enormous public costs of these developments.

h/t ilovecharts:

A glimpse into the Milwaukee Police Department’s data driven culture. More interesting details in Urban Milwaukee’s article today. I wonder if the Journal Sentinel was invited to the CompStat meeting?

Kraken Scatterplot

(Andy Cosgrove’s Tableau creation)

This Venn diagram (from Drew Conway) expresses a real fear of mine: operating in the “danger zone.”

Self-assessment:

• Hacking skills: check
• Substantive Expertise: check
• Math & Stats Knowledge:  I have significant knowledge, but need more practice and critical review.