3D Elevation graph (great for "daily by year" data)

thingiverse

Human: Create a three-dimensional data model in a grid format ideal for visualizing daily data over a year's period. ------ **Personal Side Note** I added two photos of a white graph after initially posting this. The graph in those images holds significant meaning to me at the moment (March 22, 2020), as the world grapples with uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") pandemic. The graph depicted shows the daily number of active (living, not recovered) COVID-19 cases in China from January 22 through March 20, 2020. As I reside in the US, you may wonder why I chose to focus on China. Currently, they are one of the few places worldwide where the number of active cases is declining. This graph represents a beacon of hope for the future and humanity's capacity to overcome challenges. ------ This script (`daily-by-year-elevation-graph.scad`) generates a three-dimensional model consisting of a grid of cells along the X and Y axes. The elevation (Z axis) of each cell is defined by a value in an array of data. It also optionally embosses a label at the bottom of the model. The included STL files serve as examples of graphs that can be created, made from example data stored in `data-by-year__example.scad`. These graphs represent weather data (high temperature and precipitation) for Zion National Park in Utah, USA over the years 2018 and 2019. (The OpenSCAD rendering and red-gray-blue print show the 2018 daily high temperature data.) #### How to Use: 1. Save a copy of `data-by-year__example.scad` with the name `data-by-year.scad`. This file is where you can input your chart's data. Alternatively, you can rename it as desired and adjust the include statement in the code. 2. Open `daily-by-year-elevation-graph.scad` using [OpenSCAD](https://openscad.org/). 3. Run the script to view a chart. By default, the data is arranged in a grid (from top-down) somewhat like a GitHub contribution graph. Each "column" represents a week, with days running down from Sunday to Saturday. However, the code doesn't require fixed values or specific grid dimensions. You can modify variables to use it for showing, for example, days, hours, or even non-time-based x- and y-axis values. 4. You can change the data in `data-by-year.scad`. The format is documented there. Additionally, you can configure several parameters in `daily-by-year-elevation-graph.scad` to alter (among other things) the grid dimensions, scale, etc. Note that this code was developed using OpenSCAD version 2018.10.13.ci145 and relies on APIs not available in earlier versions. The primary home of this code is on GitHub: https://github.com/probertson/daily-by-year-elevation-graph If you make improvements, please submit the changes as a Pull Request there.