About

Living Data is a catalog of interactive data visualizations. Each one explores an open data dataset and gives it a form entirely its own.

The approach

There is no chart template here, reused from one dataset to the next. Each visualization is a piece of its own: its form is chosen for what the data has to show, whether an animated map, a circular calendar, small multiples or a swarm of points around a globe. The aim is to spark curiosity, then let everyone handle the representation and make up their own mind.

The data

All data comes from public sources: public agencies, scientific institutions, conservation organizations, collaborative projects. Each page credits its sources with their publisher, their license and the date they were retrieved: open data changes over time, and this date records the version actually used.

The data is prepared and frozen when the site is built, unless the page says otherwise. When a dataset has known limits (partial coverage, documentation bias, observations rather than a census), the page says so.

When the source licenses allow it, the files prepared for a visualization can be downloaded from its page. Reusing them remains subject to those licenses.

Sharing a view

A visualization’s address follows what you do with it: filters, a paused year, a zoomed-in area of a map. Copying that address is enough to share exactly the view on screen.

How it’s made

The site is static, generated with Astro and hosted on GitHub Pages. The visualizations are coded one by one, mostly with D3 and Canvas. The source code is public on GitHub.

No audience tracking, no cookies: only your language preference is stored, in your browser. Fonts and icons are served by the site itself: displaying a page contacts no third-party service.

License

The site’s presentation and code are published under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Each dataset remains under its source’s license, shown on the visualization’s page.

Author

Living Data is designed and built by Christophe Heubès.