iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 14/07/2026

I am using #LayerChart from @techniq.dev for the first time and I am absolutely stunned how well IA agents can understand and translate my requirements (series labels with dodging, #dataWrapper style date axis, modern gridlines, line interpolation..) This task took me weeks when I hand coded them!

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 10/07/2026

Preparing a new micro website with team stats of the #WorldCup2026. Preview - should be ready before we know who wins.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 09/07/2026

I added a new visual to the #Montreal #bikeCounter project. Which bike counter sees the most cyclists — and does that change over the year? Hover over the lines and find out. Data updates daily, the race is on. Project: compteurs-cycliste.r42.ca

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 23/06/2026

Public data is only useful if people can actually use it. After Montréal restored public access to its bike counter data last month, I decided to built a dashboard to explore cycling trends across these counters. 🚲 compteurs-cycliste.r42.ca Regularly updated as new data becomes available.

Interface of the bike counter dashboard, showing a row of KPIs and a map with installed bike counters

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 15/05/2026

Nice find while travelling in Europe. German version of Atlas de la mondialisation (published by Le Monde diplomatique).

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 13/03/2026

New in SveltePlot: Raster Mark I don't understand yet the full concept, but it allows you too interpolate values to create a raster in image format. svelteplot.dev/marks/raster Kudos to @driven-by-data.net

Screenshot from SveltePlot documentation of Raster Mark showing a generic map of Canada with a dithered color overlay.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 23/02/2026

This new visual start to work out really nice: A Likert scale bar chart with neutral values in the center and automatic calculations of the overall score (in this example: net score). Still a few features missing, but getting there.

Development environment of new Power BI visual

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 18/02/2026

The Winter Olympics are almost over. A good moment to look back at the stream of medals over time. The Olympics try to stay apolitical, but this steamgraph still reflects European history, much like cold winters leave marks in a tree’s rings. Created in #PowerBI with: r42.ca/articles/tim...

$Olympic Winter Games, 1932–2022 Higher, faster — and more medals. At first glance, the steamgraph reflects the steady expansion of the Games themselves: more disciplines, more events, more podiums. Look closer, though, and it also compresses decades of political history into a single shape. The green band traces the forty years of a divided Germany. The red band tells a more fractured story: across the decades, Russian athletes appear under four different names, each change driven by politics rather than sport. In absolute terms, medals attributed to countries outside the top 15 increase over time, whether their share truly grows is less clear..$

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 12/11/2025

It’s been quite a journey, but I’m happy to share that three new custom visuals for #PowerBI — free to download. AppSource: lnkd.in/e-demPik web: lnkd.in/eBCnUa8G

small multiples line chart with data labels for Power BI

Donut chart example using small multiples

Scorecards for Power BI creating a heatmap

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 14/08/2025

Strong signal - take a break.

Area chart that went the wrong way and converted dates to numbers, which results in a kind of funny data-art drawing.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 12/06/2025

In a nutshell: - I create (or wrap) data visuals - Each visual has a JSON definition, that determines what style elements can be changed, including a strict definition of the controls. - Each visual is a Svelte component (or JS/d3 only) - The Story is dynamically created from the JSON

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 04/06/2025

Wow, there is even a smoke forecast website now: firesmoke.ca/forecasts/cu...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 03/06/2025

Looks like the Weather Network has now a new icon when the air is foggy from forest fires... #climatechange

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 21/04/2025

Last week, #Observable announced the deprecation of its Cloud service. This means developers of Observable Framework data apps loose their option to quickly deploy and protect their data apps. Here is a quick overview about alternatives. www.linkedin.com/pulse/protec...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 08/03/2025

OK, ce n'était pas plus compliqué que ça. Je dirais que c'est un mandat clair! Je suis certain rien se passera les prochaines 5 années...

Deux graphiques montrant qu'une majorité de Québécois voudrait mettre fin au changement d’heure.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 06/02/2025

That's some nice advertising... They kept the agency name in the document title 😀

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 04/02/2025

Side projects are always fun—especially when they bring together art and music. 12 lignes is a tiny web project featuring a new recording by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, in honor of artist and friend Claude Chaussard. Take a moment to explore the music and a tiny viz at 🎵✨ 12lignes.claudechaussard.com

Screenshot of the web page "12 lignes - Portrait de Claude Chaussard", showcasing a tiny audio visualization on a dark blue background.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 22/01/2025

Having a lot of fun to visualize sound data for an artist friend. Didn't even know how much data you get extract from standard mp3 files using JavaScript.

Blue screen containing the title of a modern classic composition, "12 Lignes", a portrait of Claude Chaussard. The background shows a generative composition, based on the sound data.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 17/01/2025

You need to ask often enough and "it" will change its mind.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 17/12/2024

I've always wondered how BI tools manage without offering a solid mobile reporting experience. #LookerStudio is now taking steps to change that with responsive layouts. The feature is still in private preview, but I had a chance to test it out. Here are my first impressions: bit.ly/preview-ls-r...

Splash screen to choose between Standard and Responsive reporting canvas in Looker Studio.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 03/12/2024

For the voronoi treemap, the labels need to be centered, can go over multiple lines and change the size depending on the metric. There should also be a setting to keep a nice margin around the label keep the graphic clean.

Example of Voronoi treemap using a fake dataset

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 20/11/2024

And how cool is this "discovery" search button 😀

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 18/11/2024

Finally, stacked bar charts: - place labels inside or outside? - For regular bars, I have the tendency to place them outside (more room), and place them only inside... unless they don't fit.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 18/11/2024

A line graph is another great example: Data labels are great, but too many will create a mess. In this chart, I try to place the highest value first, then the lowest value, etc., as long as the label fits inside the chart area and doesn't overlap a placed label. 🧵🧵🧵...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 18/11/2024

Removing potentially overlapping labels in data visualizations is as hard as coding all the rest. I virtually draw all text blocks in a hidden container to get the bounding box and be able to detect an overlap. How is everybody else handling data label overlapping?

WIP: Voronoi treemap showing numbers of SAAS companies in certain sub-categories.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 27/10/2024

Amazing how much NYC transformed over the past 10-15 years in terms of bike path and mobility. It is now safe to discover large parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn on a city bike. What a day.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 23/10/2024

Hier braut sich etwas zusammen. Gekocht werden einheitliche Looker Studio Dashboards, und die magischen Zutaten finden sich in meinem neuen Artikel des Analytics Pioneers Magazins. Und wer noch kein kostenloses Abo hat, kann sich gerne hier anmelden: analytics-pioneers.de/magazin/

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 20/09/2024

I'm not sure how many #LookerStudio users are on BlueSky. Please join this Looker Studio Toolkit webinar if you're one of them. I'll present our solution and how we set up a starter kit to ensure better consistency of dashboards across an organization. community.supermetrics.com/events/the-l...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 25/07/2024

I really like bump charts. This Looker Studio report shows the standings of all 175 riders throughout the 21 stages of the 2024 TdF. Fascinating to see how fast the top 10 were sorted and how Mark Cavendish was moving up because of all the dropouts. Report: lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reportin...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 11/07/2024

Sometimes, dashboards profit from simple insights. For example, you may want to compare a metric value of a single dimension to an aggregated value of the complete dataset. We must use data blends and custom vizzes to achieve this in Looker Studio. community.supermetrics.com/tips-and-tri...

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 03/07/2024

Sports stats are trending. So, I thought it might be interesting to track the overall standings of the Tour de France in Looker Studio. Find the link and the short story of the report in this community post: lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reportin... Who will be on top after 21 stages?

Tour de France 2024 – General classification over time

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 08/03/2024

Covid created a greater interest in information design than data visualization, but #dataviz kept the momentum. Lots of speculation!

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 02/01/2024

I'm very happy with how the axes have come together for the custom time series visuals I'm creating for Looker Studio. Labels are vital, but fine-tuning them can be time-consuming. Exploring the different scenarios was a substantial effort, but the end result is quite satisfying.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 09/12/2023

Not a big fan of 3D data viz, but I'd make one exception: replacing maps with a globe and eliminating all projection distortions. During the Looker Hackathon, I created a Looker Studio globe visualization. Far from perfect — three.js and shaders are extremely complex, but there is potential.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 19/11/2023

Hi dataviz experts! What are your recommendations for labeling horizontal date axis? A common approach is to move the year on a second line. But where do you place the year label if all dates in the dataset are in the same year? How do you deal with smaller date granularities? Comments welcome.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 17/11/2023

I'm not sure who recommended this book here recently (@albertocairo.bsky.social ?), but it's great. Finally, a data visualization book that digs deep and goes beyond the basic dos and don'ts. Very hands-on discussion of all the little design challenges that data viz offers. Highly recommended.

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Ralph Spandl @spandl.ca · 16/10/2023

I have been visiting the "Inside Dali" exhibition today. While it wasn't a complete waste of time, I must say that a slideshow with fancy transitions doesn't make an immersive experience. Maybe I'm old-school, but I like to look at originals.

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