h-plus-time / morgana

A data visualization tool to inspect complex datasets

Morgana

A data visualization tool to inspect complex datasets.

Project Team

Simon Christopher Cropper (project coordinator, design) (ResearchGate, LinkedIn)

Edward Ross (back end, data wrangler)

Nicholas Roberts (front end, graphics, network analysis, design)

Tung van Truong (UX design, marketing, presentation) (LinkedIn)

Jarny Choi (design, analysis) (ResearchGate)

Project origins and mission statement

Morgana is a program designed to be an intuitive and interactive way to visualize relationships between different types of data. It was proposed as a problem worth consideration at the Open Knowledge event "HealthHack 2016 (Melbourne)" by the Gastro & Food Allergy Group of Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. A team was formed at that event and the team that created the initial prototype won first prize.

The basic premise of Morgana is that complex data can be difficult to visualise, and there is a need for a tool to intuitively and interactively visualse groups within a larger dataset and quickly ascertain relationships between different types of data in that group. The tool is not considered to be a analysis package but rather a tool for exploring or interagating the data.

Etymology of name

Named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, Fata Morgana or Morgana. Morgana is believed to have conjured the images of distant land or floating castles often seen in the Straits of Messina to lure unsuspecting sailors to their death.

Fata Morgana is an unusual and complex form of mirage where an object is significantly distorted and rapidly changes. The mirage can comprise of several inverted (upside down) and erect (right side up) that are stacked on top of one another. Fata Morgana are caused by rays of light being bent when passing through air layers of different temperatures in a steep thermal inversion where an atmospheric duct has formed. Wikipedia 2016 - Fata Morgana (mirage)

The analogy here is that Morgana the software will rapidly reformat and present complex almost indecyperable datasets in novel and informative ways so casual researchers are attracted to investigate further.

Operating System

Morgana currently only operates under Linux.

Prerequisites

Python 3 npm

Installation

In most cases, pip install is sufficient:

bash
pip install -r backend/requirements.txt
npm install -g bower

If using the anaconda/miniconda python distribution, use the provided environment.yml to setup an isolated environment containing the required dependencies:

bash
conda env create -f backend/morgana-env.yml
source activate morgana-py3
npm install -g bower

Deployment (on UNIX like platforms)

bash
./run.sh

Licenses

Software devloped under this project is being released under a GNU General Public License, version 3 (GPL-3.0) license.

Supportive documentation is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY) license.

The sample dataset provided is released under a ODC Open Database License (ODbL) version 1.0 license. Any rights in individual contents of the database are licensed under the Database Contents License (DbCL) version 1.0.

morgana's Issues

Add filter-picker to sunburst

In the form of a searchable listbox, with confirmed entries added to a pile of paper-chips.

Switch d3 breadcrumbs from SVG to DOM

Reuse a collection of paper-chip or similar elements, populating them with the text of each breadcrumb. Should be able to resize and wrap (or display a shortened version, with the full text revealed on interaction with the component) contained text as needed. Strongly recommend one-way binding over popping and pushing elements.