3D globe template - an overview

What is it for?

The 3D globe template is well suited to data that covers broad geographic areas. It provides a compelling way to present your story, with the option to add a timeline to illustrate how your data evolves over time. A range of styling features also allows you to customize the globe to reflect your data with clarity and impact.

How to get started

1

Prepare your data

At a minimum, you'll need a spreadsheet of data points/events with columns for latitude and longitude, for example:

latitude	longitude
-6.081689835	145.3919983
-5.207079887	145.7890015
-5.826789856	144.2960052

If your dataset only includes place names, you’ll need to geocode it to add latitude and longitude values. There are several online tools that can help, such as latlong.net and geojson.io

In the Template chooser, scroll down or search for the 3D globe starting points.

2

Adding your data

Go to the Data tab and paste, upload or link your data. Each row should represent an event/data point to be plotted on the globe.

TIP: In case your data does not show, the first thing to check is if the Latitude and Longitude have been assigned correctly in the column bindings. Flourish's data typing feature is great at automatically assigning column bindings but it always helps to double-check.

Note that the timeline will not be visible on the map without a Start time binding. So if you have time information in your dataset go ahead and bind that to the Start time column binding.

Additionally, you can also supply the following information in your data: 

• Name: Used to add a title to the point popups.
• Size: A numeric value determining the size of the point.
• Color: Used to shade points by a categorical value. Used with a categorical color scale.
• Start time: A date at which your points should start displaying on the globe.
• Filter by: A column containing values used to filter visible points on the globe.
• Info for popups: One or more column of information to show in the popups.

3

Styling the globe

This template includes a wide range of options to style your globe.

Once you’ve bound your columns, go to Preview and open the Globe style settings. Here you can choose between two styles: Stylized or Realistic.
    •    Stylized offers a range of color gradients, from light to dark.
    •    Realistic provides a satellite-based view of the globe, with the option to toggle clouds on or off in the Display clouds settings.

Under Lighting, you can set the Sun direction with the following options:

• Always night: The 3D globe is always in night mode, with no part of it being illuminated by the sun.
• Always day: The sun shines always on all parts of the globe.
• Follow camera: The sunlight is following your rotation of the globe.
• Real time: The 3D globe features the real-time day/night pattern of the Earth.
• End time: A date at which your points should stop displaying on the globe.
• Latitude/Longitude: The user sets the geographic coordinates of the direction of the light.
• Time in timeline: The light is defined by the dates in your timeline - if, for example, you set a timeline of four days, four complete night/day cycles will be displayed.

4

Customizing the points

The next step is to style the points and their transition effects. 

Point Color

Here you can set the points Color (fill color), Opacity, and their Maximum size. 

Point Outline

In addition, point outlines can be customized. Opt for None if you do not want any outlines, Auto, which enables you to set opacity and line width, while the color is assigned automatically following the fill color, and Fixed, where you can pick the color.

It is also possible to control the transition of the points - if your dataset contains time data. You can choose between three effects: 
Appear, where the points just pop up without an effect, Grow, where new points gradually display and Fade, which sets the points to fade out. 

 

5

Camera and controls

If you want to customize which part of the globe the user sees by default when loading the visualization, you have the following options: Auto, Preset, and Manual. 

 

In Auto, the template finds an optional starting location based on the given data.

When set to Preset, you can set the starting location based on the viewer's timezone or specify a particular geographical region.

If you choose Manual, you can specify the coordinates of the initial view and the zoom level.

There are also settings for permitting the user to rotate, zoom, and in general, interact with the globe.

6

Styling the timeline

As mentioned above, note that the timeline will not be visible on the map without at least a Start time binding.

Under this setting, you can choose between a Timeline or a Play/pause button. The timeline features a line chart that tracks the evolvement of your data over time.

Moreover, you can also change the following:

• Play on load: When switched on, the timeline starts playing when the chart is loaded on the webpage.
• Loop timeline: When on, the timeline will automatically start again once completed.
• Timeline duration: Defines the duration of the timeline during playback, in seconds.
• Pause before loop: The amount of time, in seconds, the timeline will pause after completed, before it loops again.
• Time jump duration: Duration of transitions between different points in time on the timeline.

7

Adding context through popups

If you want to add more context to your 3D globe markers, you can bind columns in Info for popups in the Data tab. Click here to know more about how to customize popup style and content.