Last fall the World Bank launched a contest aimed at challenging web developers to create web-based tools using the data available through the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative. Click here to read an article from Programmable Web about the contest winners (excerpt below).
You can visualize nearly every indicator of economic, social and human development on StatPlanet World Bank, the winner of World Bank’s ambitious developer contest launched last October challenging new uses of the World Bank API. After voting from distinguished judges and the public, the organization announced the top three apps at an event in Washington, D.C., this afternoon.
StatPlanet is already a platform used by non-profits and other groups to map and visualize data. Its creator Frank van Cappelle said the application is aimed toward “evidence-based decision making.” For the World Bank contest, van Cappelle connected his platform to World Bank’s API. Where one of the challenges with World Bank’s data is how much of it there is, StatPlanet does a great job of helping users zero in on and visualize what interests them.
StatPlanet enables users to visualize global development indicators via customizeable maps and charts – and also provides a data download tool. StatPlanet could be used in combination with WorldMapper and Gapminder – two other web-based global data visualization tools – for in-class demos and/or as a resource for student projects. Click here to go to the StatPlanet main landing page or here to go directly to the tool.