

Visualizing Time with the Infinity Hour Chart - Garbage
http://dougmccune.com/blog/2011/05/07/visualizing-time-with-the-infinity-hour-chart/

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gt384u
The use of the infinity symbol seems really confusing. I would think a circle
with midnight mapped to the top and noon to the bottom would make for a
considerably more natural mapping. I'd find myself confused by the twist in
infinity switching up whether clockwise or counter represented the flow of
time.

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benjoffe
Why do you find midnight at the top more natural? I find the author's choice
more natural as it reflects the apparent position of the sun.

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corin_
Because when thinking about time of day, people are more likely to relate to
the clocks they look at to see the time than to the sun which few people use
to work out the time?

Obviously, a clock wouldn't be 24H, but none the less it starts and ends each
day at the top, not the bottom.

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irrelative
This sort of data would be beter visualized using line graphs (or sparklines)
to easily compare the values. Vertical alignments of data make it easier to
compare other values and scan visually.

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dougmccune
That's exactly what I tried to do in my previous post:
[http://dougmccune.com/blog/2011/04/26/visualizing-time-
with-...](http://dougmccune.com/blog/2011/04/26/visualizing-time-with-the-
double-time-bar-chart/)

The big downsides I was trying to overcome with line/bar charts is the
difficulty in preserving the continuity from the end of the chart back to the
beginning. A normal bar chart usually just breaks the data, making it hard to
understand the trend that occurs in the time period that spans the break. But
you're definitely right that that type of visualization makes comparing the
bars much much easier.

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rnadna
Interesting. Perhaps I'll try this out for my display

[http://emit.phys.ocean.dal.ca/~kelley/skyview/tab=results...](http://emit.phys.ocean.dal.ca/~kelley/skyview/tab=results&subtab=weather)

of light levels (an early-stage project designed for high schools).

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Devilboy
I'm not convinced that this has any benefit over just using a circle with 24
hour clock

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michael_dorfman
Just out of curiosity, what does a circular 24-hour clock look like? Midnight
at the top, and noon at the bottom, where 6 o'clock would normally be?

The benefit is in avoiding the confusion that comes from mapping a new concept
(a 24-hour clock) onto a very familiar, almost instinctual one (a 12-hour
clock).

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there
most 24-hour clocks and watches have 0 or 24 at the top. i've seen a few with
0 at the southern-most position but they are not very common.

here's my watch:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/symmetricalism/5703135927/>

