When it came to bringing data from disparate sources together in one easily accessible place, and displaying in intuitive ways that will meet the needs of a diverse user base, UoS and BT turned to us.

We worked with BT engineers to connect our visualisation platform to their Data Hub – the underlying architecture that supports their digital fabric solution. Through this data hub, we capture the live data from a range of water sensors, weather stations and CCTV cameras located at various points around the Forth Estuary, and along the path of the River Leven from the loch down to its meeting point with the River Forth.

Data from The Met Office and the UKHO is made available to the general public through published API’s (Application Programming Interface). Likewise, ESA make data from satellites available to organisations on request through their own set of API’s. These API’s make it relatively simple for us to bring new information into the platform as soon as it is available.

Each sensor is geo-located on the map, and highlighted with icons representing the purpose of the device. In the case of the weather sensor, we went one better, placing a rotating icon in position on the map to show the wind direction live. The weather sensor also provides a range of measurements including barometric pressure, temperature and rainfall, so the icon is configurable, allowing users can choose the measurement that they are most interested in seeing first.

Users access the information from the devices through a pop-up panel that appears when an individual icon is clicked. Although the devices come from different manufacturers and send data in different formats, this is completely transparent to the end user. Information is presented in the same familiar style, making it much easier to consume.

In addition to live data, users are also able to view the last 24 hours of data in a configurable graph that can be manipulated to show the different measures available from each sensor.

The CCTV cameras add the ability to pop the image out, and show a picture-in-picture over the live map – useful for observing to understand changes at the site that might cause a change in sensor readings.

The presentation of data is crucial to the success of the application. We worked with users to understand their use cases, and find the best ways to present the data in ways that are familiar to them. While some users prefer to see data in charts and graphs, others respond to more visual representation, for example using colour gradients and size. The wind sensor is a great example of this. The moving icon can grow in size or change in colour depending on gust strength, but this can also be shown on a chart.

For the visualisation of satellite images, we drew on previous experience with Stirling University to overlay the image on the map in the exact position of the body of water. Where a user would normally view the stand-alone image, they can now see it in the context of the surrounding area. The addition of live data from co-located sensors/cameras and forecast data from third parties now gives a view into the past, the present and the ability to evaluate what might happen in the near future.

The goal of this project was to demonstrate how the individual elements could be pulled together to create a platform that delivers real-time information to anyone, anywhere. With that goal successfully achieved, we’re looking forward to working with the partnership on the second phase.