[HN Gopher] Three-dimensional model of electricity consumption i...
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Three-dimensional model of electricity consumption in Manchester
(1954)
Author : prismatic
Score : 131 points
Date : 2021-01-29 17:04 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk)
| brey wrote:
| > in an enclosure of chrome steel uprights, mounted on a wooden
| base, with a handle at each end
|
| That sounds so much better than "built on an upturned coffee
| table" ;-)
|
| But I jest - it's very cool. I love the physicality - makes it
| feel much more real than 3D graphs represented on a screen.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| It makes me think about old devices that used 3-d mechanical
| cams.
| hawktheslayer wrote:
| The physicality of a constructed graph like this draws me in. I
| used to work in commercial construction and the superintendent
| would print out the Gannt chart schedule on a large plotter,
| stick it to the wall, and use a fishing line and plumb to show
| the current date. That really motivated the subcontractor who was
| behind schedule and on the critical path better than an email
| with an .mpp attachment could ever do.
| dylan604 wrote:
| I was expecting a CGI 3D chart. This is much more impressive.
| TheOtherHobbes wrote:
| A large physical display of complex relationships is easy to
| read, far more memorable than screen space, and politically and
| psychologically persuasive.
|
| We evolved to _experience_ space, not just look at 2D maps of
| it.
|
| As a compromise I would love to have wall-sized displays -
| better, wall-sized holograms - which would show all the
| relationships between files in a project and keep them editable
| at the same time.
| jsrcout wrote:
| Fascinating model. Loved the random annotations on the individual
| pages. For instance, a brief spike on 25 Mar 1953 was labeled as
| "Press load following death of Queen Mary".
| [deleted]
| ppod wrote:
| There's a note on one of them, 3am 25th March 1953:
|
| https://coimages.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/images/290/874/me...
|
| http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24/ne...
| me_me_me wrote:
| One funny thing I noticed, in the remark section a lot of those
| cards describe weather as 'Dull', a lot of them.
| Neil44 wrote:
| That's Manchester for you!
| jansan wrote:
| It's not only three dimensional, it's even haptic!
| netsharc wrote:
| Huh, neat.
|
| Frivolous business idea: implement an Excel-to-3d-printer "graph"
| printer.
| kuu wrote:
| You can use a simple printer, cut them and stock them, as they
| did...
| gillesjacobs wrote:
| The model description doesn't label axes. The biggest faux-pas in
| data visualization, so let's fix it:
|
| X: Days between October 1951 to April 1954.
|
| Y: City-wide electricity consumption (Megawatt-hours (?)) in
| increments of 5MWh.
|
| Z: Half-hours in day.
|
| Additional info on daily card:
|
| - sunrise-sunset time.
|
| - several fields for weather information.
|
| - illumination.
|
| - free form "notable events" annotated on card.
|
| Unbelievable someone cut these cards by hand in half-hour, 5MWh
| increments. Together with keeping track of notable events related
| to electricity consumption, some administrator filled a full-time
| job generating this data.
| MayeulC wrote:
| You did not label your axes either :)
|
| In your left-handed (?) coordinate system, Y is up, and X is
| right.
|
| Another labeling comes more naturally to me: a right-handed
| coordinate system where Z is up. That swaps Z and Y relatives
| to yours (thus changes handedness), and left me really puzzled
| over your labels.
| gillesjacobs wrote:
| Of course, you're right, right-hand axes labels are more
| common.
|
| A good example of the problems we get into it when axes
| aren't labelled on the original visualization.
| eurusdac wrote:
| I doubt it was a full-time job. Cutting out one card does not
| take a whole day.
| [deleted]
| dylan604 wrote:
| "The graph shows peaks in the winter and dips during warmer
| months."
|
| I found this interesting, as it is the opposite in my area.
| During the summer, the electric use is much higher with the need
| for A/C, with a significant drop off in winter as people heat
| with natural gas.
| Reason077 wrote:
| Traditionally, domestic air conditioning isn't that common in
| the UK as the climate doesn't really call for it. But it's
| starting to become more common, particularly in the South East,
| as summers get hotter and longer.
| iso1631 wrote:
| 1950s was before the UK had widespread gas heating, so electric
| heating may well have been higher than it is now.
| acta_non_verba wrote:
| We're a cold country!
| MayeulC wrote:
| It is in my experience a lot more uncommon in Europe. English
| wikipedia says so without any details. French wikipedia says:
|
| > In 2016, three countries concentrate two thirds of currently
| working A/C units: China (35,1 %), USA (23 %) and Japan (9,2
| %); UE is at 6%.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Interesting. I was expecting a 2D plot of consumption by
| location, extruded to a 3D volume over time.
| sleavey wrote:
| Interesting to compare this to modern UK demand curves:
| https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/....
|
| There seem to be dips in the middle of the day in the 1954 data
| (lunch breaks), and pronounced peaks and drops at the start and
| end of the working day, suggesting that the demand was strongly
| dominated by industrial use. UK demand curves today don't show
| this much - presumably because people still leave their office
| computers, servers, etc. on over lunch and overnight.
|
| There's also a smaller bump at 22h in the 1954 data and it's
| still somewhat present today in the summer data. I can't think of
| a good explanation for it. Perhaps street lighting, only visible
| as a second bump when they turn on only much later (summer) than
| the tapering off industrial demand? (An example of different
| demand types: those following fixed working hours and those
| following varying day/night light hours).
| makomk wrote:
| Yeah, as I understand it industry used to be a heavy consumer
| of electricity in the UK and it just isn't in that way anymore
| - particularly in places like Manchester and the North where a
| lot of the heavy industry was based - because the UK is no
| longer a major industrial player. I even saw talk by the
| National Grid in one of their planning reports about not
| replacing some of the transmission infrastructure up north when
| it ages out because with industry gone they just don't need
| that much capacity anymore.
| tonyedgecombe wrote:
| The news used to come on at 10PM, I wonder if it was that.
| [deleted]
| arethuza wrote:
| Maybe electric blankets and a last cup of tea before bed?
| oceanician wrote:
| Wow. So 1950s. I wonder if this was the very first data
| visualisation then?
| dmd wrote:
| er, what? People have been making graphs of data for hundreds
| of years, if not much longer.
|
| https://thinkinsights.net/digital/data-visualization-history...
| graphpapa wrote:
| Great article
| kwhitefoot wrote:
| Florence Nightingale used charts. See
| https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/aug/13/floren...
| burlesona wrote:
| I bet this was really beautiful when it was new. It's still
| fascinating, but it looks quite old and faded.
|
| There's so much stuff like that, things still around from the
| 1950s and 60s in particular, that I wish I could have seen while
| it was still shiny.
|
| One other thing that's interesting about pure analog data like
| this, is how they were able to freeform annotate on the cards
| without messing anything up. It's always interesting to me
| comparing systems that work via pen and paper, and how much
| looser and more flexible they can be (while still functioning
| well), compared to computer programs.
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