What?
Using the D3 library we've edited their Population Pyramid data visualisation using Victorian Population data, the current Populaton Pyramid uses Adobe Flash and this example could be a potential future alternative.
This prototype has been tested in Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer 9 (Uncheck compatibility mode). Please avoid comments that alert us to browser issues as for the intention of this being a prototype we have not made browser compatibility essential.
When?
There is no current release for this template as it is a proof of concept only, but dependant on demand this product may be developed further. Would you find it interesting to have this data visualisation template included in ABS Publications?
#1: Audrey
I was confused about the left/right thing, but I was most confused about how the bars kept flashing and reloading every time I clicked left or right. Because of this I couldn't compare (e.g) an age by year. It would be great to be able to track the rise or decline of certain age groups, or compare males and females by age across the years but I don't think this graph is quite there yet.
How about the ability to select age group/s then track it by males/females across each year (scatterplot x = years y = number z = size of population x gender) or (line x = year, y = number x gender)
#2: Kivla
I like it, but all other data I've seen has the age going from left to right in ascending order, not descending. Also having it mouse friendly would be nice, maybe just some arrows pointing from left and right?
Other than that, it's okay. It has some good elements, such as easily being able to tell which sex has more in the age group. However, with the data that you're using, it is difficult to notice any differences between the years. I imagine a visual technique such as this one would be more suited for data that differs significantly from year to year. Even if you had the same data, but changed it to 5 year increments, it would have a more visual effect.
I much prefer the current population pyramid. This one is just easier to see differences between gender and overall age group differences.
#3: Jarryd
Good point Emily! I've updated it now
#4: Emily
Looks great! A small thing but I would change it to "Right and Left Arrow keys". Very silly but it took me a little while to work this out!
#5: Alexander
By the way, the author of d3/protovis has just released a new tool that builds on d3 to let you do multidimensional analysis in real time in the browser: { Link }