A story of data indicators
This is a story about data indicators from an adventure I had last week.
As you might know, I’m working my way through the challenge of completing all 214 Wainwrights in the UK Lake District. As the weather starts to improve in the run up to Easter, I’m starting to head out again when time allows to walk up more fells and mountains.
Last weekend I planned to complete a shorter walk from the Newlands Valley to head up to Knott Rigg, and then further over a ridge to visit Ard Crags. This ‘out and back’ walk is actually a bit of a cheat because the Newlands Pass allows you to drive from Braithwaite, near Keswick, and to park at a high starting point close by to the Moss Force Waterfall.
I’ve got a little old Citroën C3 car which is perfect for these types of trips. The Newlands Pass is a long narrow winding road. If you’re not used to this type of road, and with giving way or reversing back to tight passing places, then it’s not something I would recommend – the reviews all say it’s not for nervous drivers!
So far, so good. Saturday morning I headed out early enough to avoid any real traffic while driving the length of the Pass. Except, just as I was reaching my destination – about 5-6 miles from Keswick – I happened to look at my car dashboard. The fuel gauge was showing I was two bars from empty. For comparison, when it goes below a quarter full, this is four bars. This is way lower than I normally let the gauge drop before re-fuelling.
At this point, I had a mild panic attack. I was in the absolute middle of nowhere about to run out of fuel, and with poor mobile reception. The one fortunate thing was that just as I realised the fuel situation, I reached the small parking spot I had been heading for. I pulled in and switched off the engine.
A minute passed, and I wasn’t sure what to do. Abandon the walk and try to get back to Keswick? See how far I could get by heading straight back to the nearest petrol station? I was annoyed at myself for not realising the situation earlier.
It was at that point that I realised the other main dashboard on the car had a small ‘miles to empty’ indicator. To my utter relief, this was telling me that I had 94 miles to empty.
Everything was okay again.
This is just a funny little story about a lucky escape, where I should have noticed I needed fuel much earlier in my journey. I completed the walk over the next few hours, before eventually making it back to a petrol station in Keswick with 90 miles of fuel to spare. I should never really have been worried.
I’ve thought about this since. How the design of data indicators, and how we see or experience data, shapes the stories we tell ourselves. As in this situation, I needed to see data presented in a different way to make a different set of rational decisions. How I understood data also led to very different emotional reactions.
Based on this story, how often is data not presented or seen in the best possible way, especially given the context of a situation and its consequences?
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