In collaboration with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS) I worked on the team developing the Cancer Monitoring Dashboard which visualises statistical data on cancer incidence, mortality, and survival. This project showcases our expertise in creating user-friendly data visualisation tools while addressing unique challenges in public health communication.
Project Overview
The dashboard consisted of three main pages with around eight chart types showing statistical information about cancer incidence, deaths, and survival rates. The data was provided by the BFS and visualised in a way that was easy for the general public to understand.
The development team split responsibilities across three main areas: Line Charts, Table Charts, and Layout + Theming. My role was to tackle the Table Charts, consisting of Butterfly, Lollipop, Population Pyramids, Arrow and BoxPlot charts. To make them accessible and easy to navigate, my strategy was a combination of semantic HTML tables and SVG built using D3.js, where each row of the table was a separate SVG element, allowing for a flexible template for each chart type.
Another significant achievement was expanding our swiss-federal-ci library,
which is now a shared component library across multiple projects. This effort to
standardise the UI components helps us work quickly and effectively to bring the
design to life.
Challenges and Insights
Throughout the project, we encountered and overcame several challenges:
- Managing complex data representations, including the distinction between zero values and non-existent data
- Implementing sophisticated visual elements while maintaining accessibility
- Ensuring absolute data accuracy is critical, given the sensitive nature of health statistics
Key Learnings
This project provided valuable insights that will inform our future work:
- The importance of clear technical boundaries when working with non-technical clients
- The benefits of being flexible with initial project specifications when it serves the end product
- The value of thorough planning and coordination between developers for efficiency.
Impact
The success of the Cancer Monitoring Dashboard is a practical step in making public health data more accessible and understandable. It serves as a tool for healthcare professionals and the public while maintaining the highest data accuracy standards and user accessibility expected from the BFS.