Exploring Big Data - Alternative Energy

With Helena, I explored an Alternative Fuels Data Center. Here is the link to the website: https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/#/find/nearest

What is this website potentially useful for?

This website is useful for finding alternative data sources near you, providing a simple way to save energy and help the earth. This website also provides information for research on alternative fuels, what they are used for, and how to best conserve fuel. There is also information on the laws of alternative fuel to best avoid legal issues.

What kinds of problems could the provided information be used to solve?

Availably and awareness of alternative fuel can lead to a better environment and fuel economy.

Is the provided visualization useful?

Yes, the visualization is useful because you can see where each fuel comes from. Also the different colors of the fuel show larger trends of which type of fuel is prevalent where.

The map is easily zoomed in and zoomed out so that you can easily put in you zip code and change the type of fuel to what you are looking for.

Does it provide insight into the data?

Yes it does provide some insight into that data because you can see that no matter where you live their is an alternative fuel option. Once you go to your area or zip code, tapping on a location can provide instant directions, hours, and contact info of the fuel station. There are even advanced filters that can let you select the type of owner and payment method that they accept at a fuel station.

How does it help you look at a lot of information at once?

This helps you look at a lot of information at once by putting each fuel stations as simply dots on a map and putting a key at the bottom.

How could it improve?

This could improve by expanding to outside of the US and Canada to show more parts of the world that offer alternative fuel. Also it could show statistics on the amount of alternative fuel used in each state and province in the US and Canada map to show how much the world has progressed from oil.

Where is the data coming from?

The data is coming from many sources including ones about stations from media, city coordinators, fuel providers, and even original equipment manufacturers. This data is live data that is continually being updated as the world is changing. These are all reputable sources that are continually checking their data. Here is a link to one of the sources of raw data that categorizes fuel by state https://afdc.energy.gov/stations/states.

Do you consider this “big” data?

Big data is large data sets that can be used to analyze trends or patterns. I consider this website big data because it shows a trend not only of increasing alternative fuel availability, but also which types of fuel are most prevalent and where.