this page is a work in progress!

What can we do with environmental data to understand it and communicate with it?

There are some first things we can do with data to get an idea of what’s happening, like plotting a sensor measurement against time. Then there’s ways we can present environmental data so that it communicates something meaningful, spurs advocacy, and avoids reducing real environmental harms to a data point.

There are also plenty of ways to present data and tell a story with it. We can visualize data with graphs, charts, maps, art, and other interactive media. We can also use non-visual ways, like sound and touch.

We’re collecting resources below on kinds of environmental data and ways to present it--please add to this page to improve it and make it more helpful! Creative ideas that go beyond trend lines or bar graphs are super welcome and appreciated!

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Kinds of environmental data you might have

Environmental data can come in many forms depending on how and where you collect it! Here are some common examples:

Measurements from sensors

• Data collected continuously over time from a sensor that stays in one place.

  • Example: an air quality monitor placed outside your home that measures particulate matter concentrations every 10 seconds 24 hours a day
  • Data you’ll have: date/time, environmental measurements. Potentially lots of data if the sensor is capturing data frequently.

• Data collected intermittently (at certain times of the day) at a single location or at several different locations

• Example: a portable water quality sensor taken to different locations along a stream every morning for several months
• Data you’ll have: date/time, environmental measurements, location (maybe noted manually, separate from the sensor data).

Measurements from collected samples

• Grab samples
  • Example: an air bucket monitor taken to a landfill site soon after nearby residents report strong odors. The monitor collects an air sample at a specific location and time and is analyzed in a lab.
  • Data you’ll have: environmental measurements for a sample, reported from the testing lab. Each sample measurement is associated with a sampling location and time (or, an average measurement if you’ve mixed samples from different locations and times).

If you haven’t started collecting data yet, check out some guidance on designing an environmental study---the design step is where you figure out where and when to collect data based on the specific questions you have about a local concern. There’s also more information on sampled data and continuous monitoring data in the “Types of Samples” section.

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Ways to present environmental data

Scatter plots and trend lines

Show how a measurement changes against another kind of measure. Often, this can be how something you measured in your environment changes over time.

sketch here!

Examples:

• Scatter plot showing particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations measured by an air quality sensor in an apartment building. Each black dot is an individual measurement. The PM concentrations spike during a fireworks celebration. Data from @LESBreathe.

Air quality data from @LESBreathe

• A 2-day average trendline showing dissolved oxygen (DO) in treated wastewater, measured by a sensor. The DO goes up and down throughout the day, spiking when air is injected into the water and decreasing as sewage-cleaning bacteria use it up.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) and redox potential (ORP) sensor data from treated wastewater, by @jesseslone in this comment

• Pollutants before and after shelter in place
• Time series does not have to be linear! Here is an example visualizing Jakarta’s air quality in the form of a calendar

Trends with respect to other variables

• See “Effect of City Size on Air Pollution” chart from American Pollution