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Visualisations in the Data Observatory

Explore the power of data at the Imperial's Data Observatory

The Imperial Data Observatory offers a unique, immersive environment where data comes to life through large-scale visualisations. Our visualisation library showcases how data science can illuminate complex systems - from urban mobility and public health to planetary exploration and financial networks.

Whether you're a policymaker, researcher, educator, or industry professional, you can tailor your visit by selecting from a range of themed demonstrations. Each visualisation is designed to spark insight, foster collaboration, and inspire new ways of thinking.

Custom Built Experiences

Looking for something specific? We also offer the opportunity to custom-build a demo based on your organisation’s data or area of interest. Our team can work with you to design a bespoke visualisation that meets your goals—whether it's for strategic planning, public engagement, or research exploration.

Browse our demo case studies below or get in touch to discuss a custom visualisation.

Bitcoin Transaction Patterns

Visualise the Bitcoin blockchain in real time. This demo showcases live transaction flows and highlights historical anomalies, helping users understand the dynamics of decentralised finance. Perfect for those interested in fraud detection, financial forensics, and blockchain analytics.

📄 View publication

Theme: Finance & Economics

Bioinformatics & Severe Asthma

Dive into the future of personalised medicine with this demo based on the U-BIOPRED project. Using clinical and genomic data from hundreds of patients, the system enables exploration of asthma subtypes and molecular interactions. Visitors can select patient cohorts, analyse genetic profiles, and uncover mechanisms behind severe asthma - supporting more targeted and effective treatments.

🎥 🔗 Learn more

Theme: Health & Biomedicine

Interactive Maps

This serves as a general introduction to the Data Observatory environment. We showcase how satellite maps and imagery can be explored within the space, enabling users to zoom in to fine-grained detail or out to view expansive regions. Additionally, there's the capability to overlay geolocated data, enriching the visual experience with contextual information.

Theme: Education & Communication

Field Trip to Mars

Take a virtual journey across the Martian surface using high-resolution imagery from NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. Led by Professor Sanjeev Gupta, this immersive demo allows visitors to explore Martian geology and landscapes in stunning detail.

Perfect for school groups, researchers, and space enthusiasts.
📺 BBC Feature | 📰 ITV News | 🎧 Guardian Podcast

Theme: Sustainability & Planetary Health

Marking ChatGPT’s Homework

Investigate the reliability of AI-generated sources in this student-led demo. It explores how ChatGPT can “hallucinate” citations and evaluates the legitimacy of its outputs. A compelling experience for educators, researchers, and policymakers interested in the opportunities and challenges of generative AI.

Theme: Education & Communication

person presenting in the data observatory

Predicting Road Collisions with Social Media Data

Discover how Twitter data is used to detect and visualise road traffic incidents in real time. Using advanced machine learning, tweets are classified and grouped by incident, offering near-human accuracy in identifying and contextualising collisions.

This demo provides an interactive platform for transport authorities, emergency services, and urban planners to assess impact and improve road safety strategies.

Theme: Urban Systems & Mobility

People Flow in Organisations

Explore how a major financial institution visualised workforce transitions using HR data from 100,000 employees over five years.

This demo maps career movement across departments and job levels, revealing insights into promotion systems, automation impacts, and organisational structure.
Ideal for HR professionals, change managers, and strategists interested in data-driven decision-making.

Theme: Workforce & Behaviour

SENTINAL: Epidemic Surveillance via Social Media

Experience how real-time disease detection is revolutionised through social media analytics. SENTINAL uses machine learning to analyse health-related tweets, identifying outbreaks faster than traditional methods.
This demo showcases nowcasting features that combine social media and clinical data to enhance public health response and situational awareness.

🎥 Demo video available