Visualising Empires Decline

I was intrigued when I saw this visualisation.

It is definitely aesthetically pleasing, but is it something that would form part of a Business Intelligence Dashboard?

Well, quite possibly, I could see this being an extension to the age old Bubble Chart, but with the dimension of time included and the evolution or devolution of categories perhaps.

From what I can gather, this is mainly an experimentation with soft bodies using toxi's verlet springs and the the data refers to the evolution of the top 4 maritime empires of the 19th and 20th centuries by extent. The visual emphasis is on their decline.



More on that project here:

http://mondeguinho.com/master/visual-experimentations/visualizing-empires

And more generally here:

http://mondeguinho.com/master/category/information-visualization

The question is, does it provide a clear use to the Dashboarding world for Business Intelligence or is it squarely in the Art world and no further.

Personally I like it, and if nothing else, it's got me thinking about where the world of Visualisation is heading.

Until next time...