Real estate plotter
A research tool for property buyers
Problem
- Online platforms limit filtering criteria
- Negative location traits are easily hidden
Idea
- Plot negative physical features on a map
- Screen scrape shortlist addresses and plot on same map
Discovery
- Online platforms prevent scraping, including dynamic HTML obfuscation
- Negative location feature dataset must be manually compiled
Mapping capital markets
Idea
Capital markets are a complex structure within an economy (national or global). When working in a markets business, making sense of the operating environment can be crucial to long term professional development and is something I still grapple with.
The idea is a reflective exercise to produce a diagram showing relationships between all the participants in capital markets. The diagram could demonstrate just how much of every day life in similar liberal democratic systems is facilitated by capital markets (hence why correctly functioning, transparent, efficient markets are so important).
Bonus challenges
1. Use the exercise to test depth, breadth, and understanding by relying only on knowledge gained in career to date. Produce the diagram under closed book conditions.
2. Use web technology to create an interactive diagram with visual interest to a reader. The exercise is a chance to experiment with new-to-me features of HTML5/CSS3 and stretch front end development skills. No Visio!
Result
Capital markets map implemented as a force directed graph using Javascript D3 library and HTML Canvas, with JSON for the participant relationship data model.
Readers can pan and zoom the diagram, plus click and drag to rearrange individual nodes to customise the presentation for their own tastes.