Goal:
This project takes the 100 items with the highest total number of
checkouts between 2005 and 2010 and displays them as a treemap. In
the initial view, the actual items are occluded and only boxes
representing the relative categories are shown. This gives the
user an immediate overview of which categories are the most
popular (if we assume popularity is simply a measure of how many
times an item has been checked out).
The user is then able to interact with the treemap to extract more
information. Left clicks will display the contents of a category
or zoom in to that category. Right clicks have the reverse effect.
An box pops up to display information about whichever item the
mouse is hovering over in order to present more detailed
information to the user, but this can easily be toggled by
pressing the 'i' button.
The size of each square is directly determined by the number of
checkouts for that item or category, whichever is currently being
displayed. The brightness for squares representing items
corresponds to whether the item is a CD, DVD or book.
Data:
This project uses an XML dataset stored in a mySQL database
containing information on checked-out items (books, cds, movies,
etc.) from the Seattle Public Library. The data has been
continuously recorded since August, 2005 and includes information
from earlier dates.