Using 3D Printing to Visualize Social Media Big Data

TL;DR

This paper explores using 3D printing to create physical models that visualize social media big data, exemplified by displaying Twitter data on a 3D mockup of MIT campus to enhance data interaction.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of combining 3D printing with big data visualization, demonstrating real-time social media data display on physical models.

Findings

3D printed mockups can effectively display real-time social media data.

Physical visualization enhances understanding of complex big data patterns.

Application demonstrated with Twitter data on MIT campus model.

Abstract

Big data volume continues to grow at unprecedented rates. One of the key features that makes big data valuable is the promise to find unknown patterns or correlations that may be able to improve the quality of processes or systems. Unfortunately, with the exponential growth in data, users often have difficulty in visualizing the often-unstructured, non-homogeneous data coming from a variety of sources. The recent growth in popularity of 3D printing has ushered in a revolutionary way to interact with big data. Using a 3D printed mockup up a physical or notional environment, one can display data on the mockup to show real-time data patterns. In this poster and demonstration, we describe the process of 3D printing and demonstrate an application of displaying Twitter data on a 3D mockup of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus, known as LuminoCity.