Data display of London’s transport infrastructure

Principal theme: London’s Global University

The London Transport Museum asked Dr Ed Manley of the UCL Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) to redevelop the museum’s ‘Connections’ wall display, using visualisation to enable visitors to better understand the enormous amount of data available from Transport for London’s large and complex technology infrastructure.

^{© Kin design}

The resulting visualisation is at the heart of a new exhibition ‘Transported by Design’, which opened in November 2015. It is the UK’s largest data display, combining striking 3D design, 55,000 model buildings, projection and transport information.

The relief model covers the 16 kilometres of London from Kensington to Greenwich Peninsula. It shows the geographic relationship and travel inter-relationships of the Underground to the road network above, all in real-time. The UCL CASA team worked with a London-based research and design studio, Kin, on the visualisation.

Researchers at UCL CASA have also developed a set of ‘data dashboards’ that can consolidate, organise and display the current status of a multitude of information sources in real time and on one screen. Users of the dashboards include the Mayor of London’s office, the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), and Intel.

" Data dashboards are being used increasingly, and across many sectors, from advertising to healthcare and utilities to transport. Users are better able to understand complex concepts, identify trends, spot and rectify problem areas within their operations, and improve customer service.” Dr Ed Manley, UCL Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis

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