Visualizing The World Cup - Interactive Infographics Of Tournament Math & History

Source: Bloomberg

The World Cup soccer tournament has enthralled and bedeviled fans since 1930. This year's contest, however, emerges in the age of big visual data, in the era of user-customized digital technology. Partnering with the real-time ebb and flow of each match are a host of new interactive apps that allow viewers and students to visualize each nuance of the sport. Soccer zealots can make statistical predictions, and curious students can play with the clickable interfaces.



To explore all of the tournament information for every game and group, the Rasenball visualization (above) is unmatched. Created by Mondula to capture the results and venues in a tidy display, this HTML5 creation features both a desktop and mobile version. Featured on the Visualizing.org site, Rasenball is likely to earn a lot more publicity as the tournament progresses.


via ChartsBin

In charting the "FIFA World Cup Countries Best Results, 1930 to Present," a terrific map (above) from ChartsBin allows students and patriots to hover over nations and see the history of their greatest triumphs. The options include views of the raw data tables, as well as the rare choice of geographic projections, such as Robinson, Gall-Peters, Mercator, and others.

Source: Robert Ivan

To explore a similar win-loss history, the clean interactive from Robert Ivan allows users to click on each year and see a flag-coded banner highlighting the outcome. From the same creator as the Fake Heatmap Generator, the "Visualizing The World Cup Final" design updates the traditional table of results with photographic appeal.

Source: MatchStory; Mirror

Quirky but sometimes revelatory statistics of each competing squad come to life in the MatchStory matrix (above) that allows users to shuffle teams according to soccer superlatives. Researchers can sort the sides by average age, most capped, Champions League players, and other criteria.

via Andrew Yuan, on Visually.

Finally, to pick a winner of the quadrennial joust, Andrew Yuan has developed a comprehensive tool (above) that combines geographic webs and circular synapses. Eager pupils can move through the intricate but intuitive interface to gauge the probability of their team claiming the championship.

For other ideas about teaching with the tournament, check out "The World Cup In The Classroom - Visualizations Of FIFA 2014 As Teaching Tools."