Example 01
A numerical value is assigned to every letter of the alphabet. Adding the values of all letters, one gets a number that represents the overall word. Using this system, an entire poem is arranged on a circular path. The diameter of the circle is based on the length of the poem.

Data visualizations are methods for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate specific messages—representational or absctract. These visualizations provide us with a way to understand a specific part of reality better, or at least see it in a different way.
Essentially, you could see all of visible reality as a data visualization, which is the point of this post. If you come across an example of a nature-made or man-made data visualization like the ones below, please use the image uploader in the comments to share your visuals.
Example 02
Saliva-soaked soil particles as hard as concrete are accumulated by the collective activities of termites. Some of these mound-building technologies are being copied by humans for use in their own architecture, as in the case of the Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Termite cathedral mounds in the Northern Territory of Australia

Example 03
The Earth is presented as a colored sphere where the landmasses are divided in a collection of tubes the height of which is determined by an algorithm using a data source feeding it information about the birthrate (or any other data) specific to that region to determine its size.

Example 04
Large urban agglomerations of human settlement: economical, political and cultural activity are made visual by way of a city's tall buildings and structures. The skyline is a direct visualization of the type of human occupation.
Skyline of Hong Kong

Example 05
Like a skyline is a visualization of human activity, this type of data visualization, just like the termite mounds represents specific activity in time and (virtual) space.
Social network analysis

Other examples of human-made data visualizations include:

"Global supply chain simulation" at eye-sys.com. Via VisualComplexity

Visualization of personal music listening history by Lee Byron
And some of nature's largest visualizations have striking similarities:
Frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere (clouds) are visibly arranged so that the entire cloud mass visualizes the atmospheric activity in a specific region, in this case a hurricane:

A massive, gravitationally bound system of of gas, dust and dark matter is a visualization of the countless forces at work within galaxies.



A numerical value is assigned to every letter of the alphabet. Adding the values of all letters, one gets a number that represents the overall word. Using this system, an entire poem is arranged on a circular path. The diameter of the circle is based on the length of the poem.

Data visualizations are methods for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate specific messages—representational or absctract. These visualizations provide us with a way to understand a specific part of reality better, or at least see it in a different way.
Essentially, you could see all of visible reality as a data visualization, which is the point of this post. If you come across an example of a nature-made or man-made data visualization like the ones below, please use the image uploader in the comments to share your visuals.
Example 02
Saliva-soaked soil particles as hard as concrete are accumulated by the collective activities of termites. Some of these mound-building technologies are being copied by humans for use in their own architecture, as in the case of the Eastgate Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Termite cathedral mounds in the Northern Territory of Australia

Example 03
The Earth is presented as a colored sphere where the landmasses are divided in a collection of tubes the height of which is determined by an algorithm using a data source feeding it information about the birthrate (or any other data) specific to that region to determine its size.

Example 04
Large urban agglomerations of human settlement: economical, political and cultural activity are made visual by way of a city's tall buildings and structures. The skyline is a direct visualization of the type of human occupation.
Skyline of Hong Kong

Example 05
Like a skyline is a visualization of human activity, this type of data visualization, just like the termite mounds represents specific activity in time and (virtual) space.
Social network analysis

Other examples of human-made data visualizations include:

"Global supply chain simulation" at eye-sys.com. Via VisualComplexity

Visualization of personal music listening history by Lee Byron
And some of nature's largest visualizations have striking similarities:
Frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere (clouds) are visibly arranged so that the entire cloud mass visualizes the atmospheric activity in a specific region, in this case a hurricane:

A massive, gravitationally bound system of of gas, dust and dark matter is a visualization of the countless forces at work within galaxies.

