To build an interactive dashboard that will visually showcase well-curated results of an advanced exploratory analysis conducted in Python.
For this Achievement, you’ll select your own data to analyze, with the goal of conducting an exploratory visual analysis in Python and finding connections between variables that seem worth exploring. After developing hypotheses, you’ll use various advanced analytical approaches to help you test your hypotheses.
The results of your analyses will be presented in a Tableau dashboard/storyboard. Data dashboards are an effective tool for, among other purposes, presenting data in an accessible and tangible way. Your dashboard will tell the story of your analytical journey and, as such, needs to contain a curation of the key results you discovered throughout this Achievement.
I have chosen this data set as it contains both geospatial and time series data. With over 2 million records, I am interested to see what patters and trends could be uncovered. It is also something which directly impacts communities, wildlife and the environment. The data set contains information on wildfires which occurred in the USA over 27 years (1992 – 2018). It was the fourth update of a publications with the original purpose of supporting the US Fire Program Analysis (FPA) system. Although the program has since been retired, the purpose was to support the process for strategic fire management planning and budgeting. The database includes over 2 million records representing a total of 165 million acres burned during the period.
The wildfire records were collated from federal, state and local fire organisations making it a more reliable source. Basic error-checking was performed and redundant records were removed, making the data set easier to work with.
It is an open-source data set without additional permissions or fees: https://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/Catalog/RDS-2013-0009.5 Short, Karen C. 2021. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2018 [FPA_FOD_20210617]. 5th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.5
Additional data source (climate data): https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/time-series/110/tmax/ann/12/1992-2018?trend=true&trend_base=10&begtrendyear=1992&endtrendyear=2018
In some states, reporting wildfires is voluntary. It has been estimated that only two-thirds of fires of any type, are reported to the system of record for U.S. fire departments, NFIRS. Subsequently, this dataset is likely to be an incomplete picture of wildfires in the US.
The database contains both geospatial and time series data as well as key data points on individual wildfires including the size.
The frequency and geographical range of wildfires have increased over time.
Due to higher temperature climates, southern states have a higher risk of wildfires.
Historical wildfire data can be used to determine trends over time and also help identify high risk states.