Information Sources

As preparation for some more serious assignments down the road, I was tasked with exploring the availability of datasets both formatted and unformatted. Here are some of my findings.

White Glove tracking (formatted)

Tracking the position of Michael Jackson’s white glove within the video frame (640×480) during the nationally televised landmark performance of Billy Jean.

Data Sample

frame number x center point y center point height width
1 172 359 93 91
2 176 355 91 88
3 180 353 92 89
4 183 350 97 94
5 186 348 100 97
6 189 345 99 96
7 191 343 98 96
8 194 340 96 94
9 196 337 98 97

Source: www.whiteglovetracking.com | Direct Data Download

The National UFO Reporting Center Online Database (formatted)

Indexed by event date. I don’t think this needs any further explanation.

Data Sample

Date Time City State Shape Duration
8/30/10 22:00 Annalong
Fireball 5 minutes
Summary: Orange light, with no noise flying level, then climbing rapidly.
8/30/10 20:55 Wareham MA Light 5 minutes
Summary: Light formation seen over Wareham,Massachusetts with no flashing strobes, red or green navigation lights, and no sound
8/30/10 01:30 Mountaindale NY Circle 2 hours
Summary: the objects were glowing red and white and moving about slowly
8/30/10 00:15 Derby CT Cigar 30 mins
Summary: LED like white lights, with red and greenor blue
8/29/10 23:59 San Jose CA Light 2 minutes
Summary: Orange/Red light in sky viewed from San Jose
8/29/10 21:20 Cokeville WY Formation 3 minutes
Summary: An object with lights hovered in the night sky for 3 minutes
8/29/10 21:00 Cutchogue NY Unknown 1hr+
Summary: Bright object seen moving north of Riverhead, Long Island, NY.
8/29/10 21:00 Plymouth MA triangle under 10 seconds
Summary: Red and white lights, Seen on Rt. 44 east shortly before Esta Rd
8/29/10 15:30 Newark DE Circle 2+ minutes
Summary: Multiple witnesses of 2 flying disks in Newark, DE on 08/29/10
8/29/10 12:35 Bellevue WA Flash over 20 minutes
Summary: Bright flashing light travels erratically in both pulsing pattern and trajectory for extended period

Source: www.nuforc.org

Unemployment Statistics (formatted)

Seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment statistics for the state of New York in 2000.

Data Sample

Period labor force employment unemployment unemploy. rate
Jan 9195678 8761092 434586 4.7
Feb 9205886 8776131 429755 4.7
Mar 9205415 8778862 426553 4.6
Apr 9190689 8769104 421585 4.6
May 9170029 8750880 419149 4.6
Jun 9144274 8730183 414091 4.5
Jul 9126915 8714445 412470 4.5
Aug 9121727 8709588 412139 4.5
Sep 9126095 8717586 408509 4.5

Source: www.data.gov

Meetup (unformatted)

Visualize the number of people meeting up around the world for a specific Meetup Everywhere.

Worflow

1st API call: https://api.meetup.com/ew/containers?urlname=mashable

Response:

{
"results": [{
"twitter_urlname": "socialgood",
"link_name": "Mashable",
"link": "http://mashable.com",
"facebook_urlname": "socialgood",
"scheduling": "date",
"id": 159,
"time": 1285286400000,
"created": 1274843176000,
"updated": 1284431267000,
"description": "Can social media be used to make the world a better place? Mashable & (RED) believe it can. We invite you to join the social media for social good movement by taking part in Social Good Day on September 23rd.\r\n\r\nWe’re inviting you to attend or organize a meetup in your community to celebrate, share, educate, and engage in a discussion on how social media can be used to tackle some of the world’s social challenges and issues. What's your solution?",
"name": "Mashable",
"meetup_url": "http://www.meetup.com/Mashable/",
"event_create": "anyone",
"urlname": "Mashable",
"founder": {
"name": "Mashable.com",
"member_id": 5371635
}}],
"meta": {
"lon": "",
"count": 1,
"signed_url": "http://api.meetup.com/ew/containers?order=name&urlname=mashable&offset=0&callback=jsonp1284952454962&format=json&page=200&sig_id=12227610&sig=a2df62aa973f92f0cd4b5c1f999fd3de8080a40d",
"link": "https://api.meetup.com/ew/containers",
"next": "",
"total_count": 1,
"url": "https://api.meetup.com/ew/containers?key=2322511356a5e3912394c2b25b855&order=name&urlname=mashable&offset=0&callback=jsonp1284952454962&format=json&page=200&sign=true",
"id": "",
"title": "Container",
"updated": 1284431267000,
"description": "API method for accessing containers",
"method": "Containers",
"lat": ""
}
}

2nd API call: https://api.meetup.com/ew/events?urlname=mashable

Response:

{
"zip": "95926",
"lon": -121.85,
"status": "pending",
"state": "CA",
"city": "Chico",
"country": "us",
"id": 19968,
"updated": 1281707927000,
"created": 1281707927000,
"container": {
"id": 159,
"name": "Mashable",
"urlname": "Mashable"
}, "meetup_url": "http://www.meetup.com/Mashable/19968/",
"lat": 39.79}, {
"zip": "44035",
"lon": -82.11,
"status": "pending",
"state": "OH",
"city": "Elyria",
"country": "us",
"id": 18947,
"updated": 1281352254000,
"created": 1281352254000,
"container": {
"id": 159,
"name": "Mashable",
"urlname": "Mashable"
}, "meetup_url": "http://www.meetup.com/Mashable/18947/",
"lat": 41.37}
}

3rd, 4th, 5th, etc API call: https://api.meetup.com/ew/rsvps?event_id=event_id=19968

Response:

{
"results": [{
"member": {
"name": "Sisterlisa Bertolini",
"member_id": 12742397
}, "id": 67419,
"created": 1281707927000,
"event_id": 19968}, {
"member": {
"name": "Nick Griffin",
"member_id": 12941813
}, "id": 76064,
"created": 1284176060000,
"event_id": 19968}],
"meta": {
"lon": "",
"count": 2,
"signed_url": "http://api.meetup.com/ew/rsvps?event_id=19968&order=time&callback=jsonp1284952454965&offset=0&format=json&page=200&sig_id=12227610&sig=330d2ce4c211bd84f64e737861ff36d94dfdff62",
"link": "https://api.meetup.com/ew/rsvps",
"next": "",
"total_count": 2,
"url": "https://api.meetup.com/ew/rsvps?key=2322511356a5e3912394c2b25b855&event_id=19968&order=time&callback=jsonp1284952454965&offset=0&format=json&page=200&sign=true",
"id": "",
"title": "Rsvps",
"updated": 1284176060000,
"description": "API method for accessing event rsvps",
"method": "Rsvps",
"lat": ""
}
}

Source: Meetup API

Data Organization:
Everywhere Name | Date | Time | Venue | City | State | Lat | Lon | # RSVPs

Hunch (unformatted)

A visualization of, “If I like ______, there is a high probability I will like ______.” Utilize the Hunch API.


Table 1: Rank | Person
Table 2: Rank | Place
Table 3: Rank | Thing

Flickr (unformatted)

A visualization of the images uploaded to flickr on a given day categorized by their tags. Utilize the flickr API.


Data Organization:
Table 1: Image ID | Image Title | Image Description | Lat | Lon | Time Uploaded | Time Taken
Table 2: Image ID | Tag

Other Sources

Infochimps
Freebase

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