Using Data Visualization to Help Tell Project Stories Mickey O’Hara, Colorado Water Trust October 11, 2017, Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference

Home , Fraser River (Colorado), Roaring Fork River, Yampa River

Using Data Visualization To Help Tell Project Stories Mickey O’Hara, Colorado Water Trust October 11, 2017, Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Using Data to Tell Project Stories

• Water Trust’s interest in sharing project data • Process to develop dashboard and project stories • Tips to develop data visualizations • Tools to use for data visualization projects

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Colorado Water Trust

• Restore streamflows to Colorado’s rivers in need

• 28 restoration projects since 2001

• 8.4 billion gallons (or nearly 26,000 acre-feet) of water restored to nearly 400 miles of rivers and streams.

• Market-based, voluntary projects

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Colorado Water Trust’s 2016 Strategic Plan

Advance the State of the Practice

Leverage our knowledge and tools

Continue to restore streamflow

Develop and implement comprehensive communications strategy

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Develop and communicate metrics of success to donors, funders, project partners, and policy makers

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Metrics

Flow Flow Flow Benefits Project: Project Name Project Type Date Completed Benefits Benefits Water Division Water District Stream (af) (cfs) (mi) 1005-0006-ACQ Moser Blue River Acq - Permanent 12/8/2005 3.84 513 14.1 Division 5: Colorado 36 - Blue River Basin Boulder Creek, Blue River 1005-0008-ACQ Vail/Hat Creek Acq - Permanent 12/26/2007 2 171 5.18 Division 5: Colorado 37 - Eagle River Basin Hat Creek, Brush Creek 1005-0011-CON Pitkin County Trust Agreement Acq - Limited Term 12/9/2009 Division 5: Colorado 38 - Roaring Fork River Basin Roaring Fork Basin streams * 1005-0012-ACQ Stapleton Brothers Ditch/Maroon Creek Acq - Limited Term 6/30/2010 3.83 862.24 18.04 Division 5: Colorado 38 - Roaring Fork River Basin Maroon Creek, Roaring Fork River 1004-0003-ACQ Breem Ditch/Washington Gulch Acq - Permanent 12/27/2010 1.3 251.3 4.39 Division 4: Gunnision 62 - Upper Gunnison River Washington Gulch, Slate River 1004-0023-PHY CCC Ditch Physical solutions 11/1/2011 Division 4: Gunnision 60 - San Miguel River Basin San Miguel 1007-0003-ACQ Three Sisters Ditch/Hermosa Creek Retirement 7/9/2012 1.5 44 20 Division 7: San Juan/Dolores 30 - Animas River Basin Hermosa Creek 1006-0006 STL UYWCD 2012 Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 7/11/2012 26.7 4000 92.1 Division 6: Yampa/White 58 - Upper Yampa River Yampa River * 1006-0004-STL CPW Big Beaver Reservoir Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 7/17/2012 20 3000 42 Division 6: Yampa/White 43 - White River Basin Beaver Creek, White River 1005-0020-STL Aspen Shorefox Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 7/26/2012 11.66 682.2 37.9 Division 5: Colorado 51 - Upper Colorado/Fraser Rivers Willow Creek, Colorado River 1005-0027 STL Coyote River Ranch Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 8/2/2012 1.62 429.2 0.5 Division 5: Colorado 53 - Tribs. North Colorado River Deep Creek 1005-0043-STL Winter Park Ranch Water & San Distr Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 6/6/2013 0.53 167.23 18 Division 5: Colorado 51 - Upper Colorado/Fraser Rivers St. Louis Creek, Fraser River 1005-0045-NDA Wheeler Ditch - 2013 Non-diversion Agreement 7/24/2013 2.9 454.5 2.5 Division 5: Colorado 38 - Roaring Fork River Basin Roaring Fork River 1004-0004-STL McKinley Ditch Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 8/19/2013 2.1 165.6 8.63 Division 4: Gunnision 62 - Upper Gunnison River Little Cimarron 1006-0006 STL UYWCD 2013 Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 8/20/2013 30 2819 5.4 Division 6: Yampa/White 58 - Upper Yampa River Yampa River 1001-0009-PHY Josh Ames Physical solutions 11/4/2013 Division 1: South Platte 3 - Cache La Poudre River Cache la Poudre * 1003-0002-ACQ ARK Valdez Ditch Acq - Permanent 12/27/2013 0.5 340 16.46 Division 3: Rio Grande 21 - Alamosa La Jara Alamosa River * 1003-0002-ACQ ARK Gabino Gallegos Ditch Acq - Permanent 12/27/2013 2.5 1660 16.86 Division 3: Rio Grande 22 - Alamosa La Jara Alamosa River 1005-0045-NDA Wheeler Ditch - 2014 Non-diversion Agreement 5/6/2014 1 113 2.5 Division 5: Colorado 38 - Roaring Fork River Basin Roaring Fork River 1004-0004-ACQ McKinley Ditch Acq - Permanent 12/31/2014 5.81 771.5 8.63 Division 4: Gunnision 62 - Upper Gunnison River Little Cimarron River 1004-0027-STL Coats Bros Ditch Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 5/19/2015 1.85 203.2 12.3 Division 4: Gunnision 28 - Tomichi Creek Tomichi Creek 1005-0055 Rio Colorado SB 19 Conservation Plan 6/11/2015 10.33 968 4.8 Division 5: Colorado 51 - Upper Colorado/Fraser Rivers Willow Creek, Colorado River 1006-0006-UYWCD 2015 Reservoir Release 8/10/2015 28 1043 18 Division 6: Yampa/White 58 - Upper Yampa River Yampa River 1005-0045-NDA Wheeler Ditch - Ten Year SB 19 Conservation Plan 5/9/2016 2.5 588 2.5 Division 5: Colorado 38 - Roaring Fork River Basin Roaring Fork River 1004-0004-SCPP McKinley Ditch SCPP System Conservation 6/20/2016 1.8 169.7 8.63 Division 4: Gunnision 62 - Upper Gunnison River Little Cimarron River 1006-0006-UYWCD 2016 Reservoir Release 9/22/2016 10 264 18 Division 6: Yampa/White 58 - Upper Yampa River Yampa River 1005-0066-Upper Fraser Tributaries SB 19 Conservation Plan 11/15/2016 3.14 513 13.4 Division 5: Colorado 51 - Upper Colorado/Fraser Rivers Skunk Creek 1006-0006 UYWCD 2017 Acq - 3-in-10 Lease 6/30/2017 21 1200 18 Division 6: Yampa/White 58 - Upper Yampa River Yampa River Total 28 196 21393 409

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Metrics

250 450

400

200 Cumulative Flow Benefits (cfs) 350 Cumulative Miles of River Benefited (mi) 300

150 250

200 100

150 Cumulative Flow Benefits (cfs) Benefits Flow Cumulative 100

50 Cumulative Miles of River Benefited (mi) Benefited River Miles of Cumulative

0 0 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10 Jan-11 Jan-12 Jan-13 Jan-14 Jan-15 Jan-16 Jan-17 Jan-18

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Why focus on data visualization?

• Communicate information effectively using visual objects

• Display data at a high level, with the opportunity to dive into finer detail

• Graphics can help reveal what’s behind the data

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Data  Information

• Start With a Question – “How do we show people where our projects are operating, and how much water they’re restoring at any given time?”

• Start With Your Audience – “To whom do we need to convey our project data and information?”

• Answer the question, address the intended audience – Create value for the audience

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Information  Story

• Select a tool to use that will allow you to display your data in the most efficient manner possible. • Are you trying to educate? Entertain? Call to action? • Many options to create stories, with varying costs and levels of technical knowledge required – Excel – Google sheets – Esri ArcGIS – Mapbox – Tableau

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Data Source = Google Sheets

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Data Source into Tableau

• Pull data from cloud, excel, AWS, many other locations • Use joins and unions to organize data

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Story = Interactive Dashboard

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Tooltips

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Highlighting

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Filtering

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Project Stories

• Esri’s Story Map Cascade web-app • Allows for inclusion of interactive maps, Tableau Dashboards, full-screen photos, videos, scrolling text

Wheeler Ditch Project

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Esri Story Maps

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Individual Project Accounting

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Interactive Storytelling Tools

• Keep it SIMPLE

• Keep it easy to understand, for your entire audience

• Allow users to dig as deep as they’d like, or just skim the surface and gain a better understanding The Washington Times

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Visualization Options

• 2D area maps • Drought visualization for 2011-2016:

https://adventuresinmapping.com/2016/07/12/five-years-of-drought/

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Visualization Options

• Temporal representations • Time series charts • Line Graph • Bar Chart • Stacked Area Chart • Gantt Chart • Stream Graph • Heat Map

http://flare.prefuse.org/apps/job_voyager

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Visualization Options

• Multidimensional

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 How else can we visualize data?

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Additional Resources

• Water Trust Stories – www.coloradowatertrust.org/impact • Data Visualization: – Visualization Library: • http://guides.library.duke.edu/datavis/vis_types – Open Water Foundation • http://openwaterfoundation.org/ – Tableau • Tableau Foundation for Nonprofits (https://www.tableau.com/foundation/about) – ESRI • Story Maps (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/) • Arcgis Online

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017 Thank You

Mickey O’Hara, Water Resources Engineer [email protected]

Data Visualization | SCW Conference 2017