Atlas HoverPoint Challenge for Information Visualisation

Many of us are overwhelmed by information on a daily basis and it is difficult to prioritise things that actually matter to us the most. A number of methods exist for achieving this goal, including information visualisation.

What is information visualisation?

Information visualisation uses charts, tables, drawings and other visual means to present information in a way that’s easy to understand and manipulate.

Information visualisation is a powerful tool for making data more accessible and easier to understand. It helps turn raw information into actionable insights or even knowledge. Interactive information visualisation is increasingly used in websites and applications. Being able to interact with a visualisation allows users to manipulate it and caters more to their needs. 

Types of information visualisation

There are numerous types and tools for information visualisation, each designed to help people interpret and understand information. Some popular tools and visualisation techniques include:

• Cartogram
• Charts such as pie or scatter plot
• Concept Mapping
• Dendrogram (classification)
• Infographics
• Interactive images
• Graphs
• Heatmap
• Multidimensional scaling
• Treemapping
• Word cloud

Benefits of information visualisation

• Information is processed faster
  Research has shown that data or information presented in graphical form is processed faster than text and tables. Our brains can easily recognise images and make sense of them.
• Improve learning
  Information visualisation helps make learning more efficient, as it is easier to understand a message when it is delivered in a more engaging way.
• Mitigate health and safety risks
  Provide visual and interactive information to reduce health and safety incidents. This is particularly useful for frontline workers.

• Reduce errors and improve decisions with clearer communication
  Information visualisation can provide a clearer message than text. Clarity is essential to effective communication or else people might misunderstand the information being presented.
• Quick answers
  Enable people to self-serve for quick answers to their questions.

Testing interactive images as a form of information visualisation

One of the most important aspects of developing a successful product is making sure that it meets the needs and expectations of our customers. This is where testing comes in. By testing the features that we develop, we can identify any potential issues or areas for improvement before the product is released into General Availability (GA). Not only does this help to ensure that our customers are satisfied with the final product, but it can also save time and money in the long run.

At ClearPeople we use all the features and functionality of Atlas internally - as our intranet and knowledge management platform. We optimise our product based on our own experiences as well as our client feedback.

Atlas HoverPoint brings images and information to life. HoverPoint makes it easy to build engaging visual experiences and rich user interactions by adding information and media to your images stored in Microsoft 365.

Atlas HoverPoint challenge for information visualisation

We recently organised an internal challenge around one of our Atlas key features called HoverPoint. The challenge invited our staff to come up with creative ways in which they could use HoverPoint to achieve their goals. Any ideas could be submitted as long as they were work related. We were blown away by the number of responses and the great ideas we received.

At the same time, we also tested our Atlas Ideation feature by setting up an Ideation Workspace. The Atlas ideation feature is still in private preview and it was a useful way to collect ideas on how to use HoverPoint.

The benefit of this challenge was twofold. Firstly, it helped us to understand our product better by seeing how our own staff are using it. This information is invaluable as it will allow us to make improvements and adjustments to the product that we may not have otherwise considered. Secondly, it provided us with a range of possible use cases and ideas to share withour clients and help them get the most out of HoverPoint and Atlas.

I will share these ideas in the coming months, starting with the most popular use cases.

HoverPoint information visualisation use cases

The winner of our challenge was Thamilini, who received most of the votes on her idea.

Thamilini is one of our Implementation Consultants at ClearPeople and she helps clients on a daily basis to implement Atlas in the most optimal way, keeping the clients' goals and requirements in mind. This also means she has in-depth experience with Atlas and all its features and functionality as well as a good understanding on how to translate client requirement into using the proper Atlas functionality.

1. "Pick a Tune"

Thamilini, "cool as she is", came up with an idea that provides relaxation during our busy working hours. Everybody is always concentrated and focused on their computer so Thamilini thought "why not make sure we provide some room to relax with a bit of music" and so she set up a HoverPoint with the title "Pick a Tune". With HoverPoint you can easily configure great tunes as relaxing content for who ever needs it.
 
Check out Thamilini's idea in this short video.

We may now be a fully remote company but it's still important that we keep our culture as a social company and so we welcome fun ideas for less serious moments and topics that have nothing to do with work.

2. Online quizzes 

Matthew Sammut, one of our developers and also found inspiration in having fun. He used HoverPoint to provide the answers to fun online quizzes. Search for the differences between 2 images and show the answers afterwards via HoverPoint.

3. Anatomy of a black hole & "The Inca Trail" - making information more interactive

Carl Bramhall, also one of our Implementation Consultants, decided on a more educational approach when submitting his idea. His "Anatomy of a black hole" is a scientific topic but HoverPoint makes this more simple to understand. The video below also covers the "The Inca Trail" idea that Fabiola, our Customer Success Agent, submitted.
 

4. Introducing staff and "The office "

And what about something related to HR. Grant, our lead consultant, used HoverPoint to introduce a team. This is a great way to help new employees get to know their colleagues, especially in a remote or hybrid working environment.

Olga, our Product Manager, provided an example on how you could make new joiners' life easy by finding certain areas in your buildings. 

When you are a big company and you are located in a building with a lot of rooms, newcomers might get lost in just finding the meeting room, the dining room or maybe even their own desk. HoverPoint could also be a valuable tool for Health & Safety to ensure all employees know where to find the first aid kit or fire extinguisher.
 

 
 
Want to know more about information visualisation?

As you can see there are endless use cases of HoverPoint. It is an effective way to deliver your message to any audience, and best of all, it's simple to do. You can configure HoverPoint with no technical knowledge.

Atlas has many more features that overcome the challenge of information overload. 

If you have questions or you are interested in a demo of Atlas, please feel free to get in touch.