D3 Experiments - Interactive Mapping

07 Jan 2016

In the past few days I've been experimenting with a new technology for data visualization called D3.js. It's a javascript library which allows for data-based manipulation and addition of content to a webpage. The most exciting part of D3 is the degree of interactivity which can be included in a website; this is great for use in creating maps to visualize and analyze data.

In anticipation of a job interview for a data analysis/graphics position (but mostly because I wanted to play around with D3), I created a map which allows for exploration of student loan data. In particular I present information regarding # of federal loans awarded to undergraduates, number of $$$ awarded, and relative population by state. The loan values are for individuals attending school in the given state.

Give it a try and explore the data!

One of the reasons why I am so excited about interactive data visualization is that it really allows the user to explore the data themselves in order to get a better understanding for what is going on. I encourage you to play around with the map below; take a look at the various variables using the drop-down and explore numbers for individual states by hovering over them.

View Map in Fullscreen

Concluding thoughts

Thanks for reading! If you're interested in how I created this map, you can check out the repository here.