Valeria Heredia Crespo
Valeria Heredia Crespo
UFO Sightings Map Visualization

UFO Sightings Interactive Data Visualization

Explore UFO sightings data through an interactive and visually engaging map.

View DemoGitHub Repo
ReactD3.jsDockerGitHub Pages

Project Overview

Create interactive data visualizations using React to explore real-world datasets of personal interest, implement front-end best practices, and tell a compelling story through visualization.

NJIT IS219 Academic Project

Mar-May 2025 Timeline

Data Visualization Category

Problem Statement

Assignment Requirements

  • Create interactive visulizations with React
  • Use real-world datasets
  • Implement front-end best practices

Challenges

  • Working with messy geospatial data
  • Visualizing thousand of data points efficiently
  • Creating intuative UI that allows non-technical users to explore the data

Objectives

  • Demonstrate proficiency in React and D3.js integration
  • Develop containerization skills using Docker for consistent development environments
  • Create a publicly accessible web application using GitHub Pages deployment

Planning & Research

User Analysis

The project aimed to address three key questions:
1. Are there geographical patterns in UFO sighting reports across the United States?
2. Do UFO sightings correlate with the locations of military installations?
3. Is there any relationship between UFO sightings and nuclear facilities?

Market Research

I examined several existing visualizations, including:

  • NUFORC's basic statistical reports and maps
  • Dataset of military bases across the country, including Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps facilities
  • Nuclear Reactor dataset bases across the state

    • Technical Approach

    I selected React for component management and state handling, paired with D3.js for visualization capabilities. This combination offered:

  • Modular, reusable visualization components
  • Efficient rendering through React's virtual DOM
  • Powerful data-binding and DOM manipulation

    • Data Graph 1
    Data Graph 2
    Data Graph 3

    Development Process

    Architecture/Structure

    This project follows a modular architecture:

  • Core visualization components: Map, Timeline, Rankings.
  • Data processing utilities for CSV parsing and normalizations
  • Shared state management for filtering and interaction

    • Key Technical Decisions

    The MapVisualization component integrates:

  • D3's geographical projection for mapping coordinates
  • Color scales for representing sighting density by state
  • Dynamic rendering of military based and nuclear facilities

    • Testing & Iteration

    Project Evolution Timeline

    Project Evolution Timeline

    Conclusion & Future Work

    Conclusion

    This project successfully transformed raw UFO sighting data into an interactive, exploratory visualization that reveals geographical and temporal patterns across the United States. By integrating military base and nuclear facility information, the visualization enables users to explore potential correlations between reported sightings and critical infrastructure. While not proving any definitive relationships, the project demonstrates the power of React and D3.js for handling complex datasets and creating accessible data visualizations.

    Future Enhancements

    • Improved data filtering options
    • Enhanced visualization interactivity
    • Integration with real-time data sources
    • Mobile-friendly design improvements
    Back to ProjectsView Project