Data Visualization Rational

My Data Visualization was designed to help the keen surfer get information fast. This idea came to me because I enjoy a surf when I get the chance but the only problem is that the TV’s weather reports are too broad and vague for my small town, so I would have to use the car to travel down to the beach and look at the surf my self. This not only wastes time but it also increased my carbon footprint.
My Data Visualization has the coast line from Foresters Beach to Avoca my main surfing spots. Next to each of the 5 beaches that I regularly surf at I have illustrations of waves the larger the picture of the wave the lager the waves will be down at the beach. I also have a wind, temperature, weather, tide and ocean temp Data visualizations to help a surfer in need of some quick information.
I have divided the waves as follows: 0-1ft, 2-3ft, 4-5ft, 6-7ft and 8+ft. I have divided the temperature data similarly 25+ Degree Celsius will inform the viewer by being a red thermometer. A 25-15 Degree Day will be yellow and anything lower than 15 Degrees Celsius will make the thermometer blue. Like the 2 before it my wind data is divided as follows: 0-5kts, 5-10kts, 10-15kts and 15kts+. To measure water temperature I used swimming costumes. A pair of board shorts indicates that the water is 23 Degrees Celsius or more a spring suit suggests that the water is 20 -23 Degree Celsius and the steamer symbolizes that the water is less than 20 degrees Celsius.
I also have data visualizations that don’t use numbers such as my tide indicator which the letters ‘TIDE’ fill up like a glass getting filled with water to symbolize how high or low the tide is at the beach. To show the weather I have stolen the weather report way of telling weather by drawing a picture of the sun for fine, a cloud for cloudy, a rain cloud for rain and a thunder cloud for storms.
I have designed a time line to predict the conditions during sunlight. The time line also shows the times for the sunrise and the sunsets once the mouse is over the illustrations at the start and the end of the time line. I only focused on the weather from sun rise to sunset because once there is no light at the beach every surfer knows that who ever is still in the water is shark bait. I realize that as winter comes by that the days get shorter and shorter so I have my time line along the top of the Twitter API. The very ends of the time line will be from the times 4am to 10pm. There is no way that there would be sun light before 4am and after 10pm at those beaches assuring that there won’t be a crash due to html mess up. The sunrise/set will place them selves on the time line once that data has been received.
All of my Data Visualizations once they have a mouse over them will emit a white glow around the illustration and the exact data or the most accurate data for the viewer underneath the picture.
Every piece of data that is need to create this visualization can be found in http://www.bom.gov.au/ or more commonly know as the website for The Bureau of Meteorology.
I imagined this data Visualization as an app on a smart phone so at the very bottom of the data visualization I have a Twitter API. What this will allow the Data Visualization to do is do something that no machine to date can do. Because the sand at the beach is constantly changing the waves at the beach are going to be always different. It is impossible to try and retrieve data or predict the type of wave at the beach. The Twitter API allows people either close to the beach or driving passed the beach to comment on the waves at that particular beach and other people either more inland or just too lazy to look them selves can see what the waves are through the Twitter API. This way a surfer can know exactly what type of waves will be crashing on the beach. Whether it be flat messy or dumpers to beautiful purling barrels you will know the conditions.
I hope one day that I will be able to wake up and see the conditions for my local beaches no matter where I am in the world.