VR Data Visualization Learnings from the Place Viewer

A quick video essay about my learnings from the Place Viewer project.
Source code for the project available here:
github.com/Gre...
Archive of Reddit's "Place" available here:
/ place

[@razor6589]

"The germans thought it would be funny to invade france" think i heard that before

[@martin4911]

Lmao

[@Gachiya]

@@andrewj3177 et qu’il termine en prison et écrit un livre qui s’appellera Mein- nan je vais pas continuer x)

[@brandonkim8423]

A German was passing through customs in France. The French officer looks over the papers and asks the German, "Occupation?" "No, no," replies the German, "just visiting"

[@kuerbisformel_388]

@@andrewj3177 deep comment bro because hitler was rejected from an art university right?

[@jvw8129]

@@kuerbisformel_388 he was rejected twice from art school, you can read about it in his book.

[@ezekielproctor7858]

Germany hits France Rainbow comes _EUROPEAN UNION_

[@OfficialCANVAS]

For many yes. The european union is the goldbucket

[@soggysacks1176]

@Matt Chase ahhhh yes a man of culture.

[@niklas4338]

Canvas its hell

[@gausts]

@@niklas4338 Where are you from exactly?

[@astelp9220]

Unionizing beam!

[@alexander1055]

0:53 I love how the German Flag on its way to the French Flag swallowed the Word *"Österreich",* which is the German Name for *Austria.*

[@djoxal9810]

Oh f*ck 1940 flashbacks

[@victorzilliacus9531]

@@djoxal9810 Not in 1940!

[@Andre-gn4sj]

did you notice the blitzkrieg tactic xD

[@Zekrom144]

Anschluss time

[@cantspeakcantspeak79]

Germany for Germans -Hitler, committed to make Germany into 3 different Germanys

[@Skillseboy1]

As everyone is saying - please make another video about this year's Place!!

[@Louis_2568]

His last upload was 4 years ago I don’t think it’s gonna happen

[@znotchill]

@@Louis_2568 he already updated the source on github, so therefore he is still active

[@Louis_2568]

@@znotchill LETS GO

[@znotchill]

@@Louis_2568 such a fast reply LETS GOOOOO

[@Louis_2568]

@@znotchill happened to see the notification

[@carykh]

This is one of the coolest data visualizations I've ever seen! I really loved participating in /r/place back when it happened, but this is making me wish more and more that Reddit could have another /r/place-like event

[@CrazyLexi09]

Hi

[@scystep]

Same

[@He1IoStuff]

hello there cary key hole

[@DogloverTravis]

April fools is coming again so who knows, maybe it’ll happen again.

[@silverbolt9749]

Everything I see of it only makes me want more

[@melsunday1991]

this was seriously so cool

[@pooconsumer]

yea

[@antoniomatta9633]

I’m not liking this just so you get stuck at 999 likes

[@pooconsumer]

Antonio Matta don’t worry I was 1k

[@claytong2069]

No

[@claytong2069]

Nah

[@volodymyrkurbatov1845]

This is the best data visualization in virtual reality that I seen.

[@uzbbanimgfumvypgpqzyxlwwx]

Same

[@uzbbanimgfumvypgpqzyxlwwx]

It’s also the only one tbh

[@Ranklion]

Bruh comeback they added place again

[@Tazerboy_10]

It's cool nonetheless...

[@federicoreina7732]

This is a data visulization in virtual reality that I seen.

[@alexmccarter6051]

The real question is why u using bing

[@mrsnowman9964]

when it comes to turning off safe search bing shows a lot more than google

[@olive6942]

@@mrsnowman9964 heck with safe search on you can still find a lot more than google

[@bamberghh1691]

duckduckgo is still better than bing

[@sheeloesreallycool]

my brother died because he searched up “how to kill yourself” on bing

[@bigvis9621]

The Gamist Looks like Bing served the needs of its customer properly.

[@LinkTheFusky]

they need to do this again Edit (after 2022): it was wonderful to have my wish come true, I helped out on r/Scotland’s flag and built the top of the can of irn bru 🧡 💙

[@LinkTheFusky]

I'll try and get in early and try and create the centre heart

[@aidang7182]

@@LinkTheFusky they tried to but there's no successful attempt.

[@DR-54]

@@aidang7182 r/layer was only similar but was very successful with thousands of pieces of art being created, and it wasn't even an april fools joke

[@yidasjdjasgd4054]

R/places, two canvases next to eachother. That'd be neat.

[@kirbycreep]

there's this thing called "another place" they even got a subreddit for it. You can find it on google play store and in skelux.net

[@nemjef121]

One of the most amazing things is that each little pixel and fluctuating bar is not procedural or randomly generated. Its thousands of individuals working together to make one of the most powerful work of art in existence. What other single work of art has had so many people contribute before?

[@mekorlang]

It could be bots. Who knows

[@noahmay7708]

"Most powerful work of art in existence" Dont know about that one, chief.

[@nemjef121]

@@noahmay7708 I'd argue so. It's a representation of how humanity has crawled from the ocean, evolved to harness electricity, lived in and around it to form massive amount of media, communities and inside jokes and is all mashed together to show it all off. I didn't put it into words as well as I could have but I'm dying on this hill.

[@jason86768]

The imperfect and ever-changing tapestry that is the Earth, that is in itself merely a single pixel within the Universe.

[@matterhorn731]

This is really cool! Looking forward to seeing how it applied to the new r/place from this year! And yeah, I can definitely see how it could have broader applications for actual practical data analysis.

[@maritje4225]

I think the Canadian flag would be really really tall 😂😉

[@glass153]

this was the old one

[@maritje4225]

@@glass153 we know 😉 that’s why the original commenter said they look forward to it being applied to r/place of this year

[@aidynchristiansen4947]

As I can tell from seeing how fast the usernames changed for some of the pixels, I think the spots with the most activity would be the corners, French flag, and (69,420)

[@jeremvfx]

@@maritje4225 french flag is the biggest one, we have the most pixel we are first with like 186,000 pixels , spain is only #33 with 24,000 pixels

[@kimeojin1234]

1:45 is amazing. It's baffling how they even figured out that it was the first heart, and how they were trying so hard to keep it alive (remember, ONE LEGITIMATE ACCOUNT had ONE PIXEL change every 5 MINUTES)! I literally "wow"ed out loud when you explained the heatmap of that particular point.

[@squidhatonaglobe4030]

They had a community on discord or something so they probably all agreed to keep the og as is

[@parknplay8328]

Why did this blow up in late 2019, more than 2 years after its posting

[@uwu_senpai]

The magic of KZbin algorithm. It's interesting thought and I participated in the battle but never saw this video in 2 years lol.

[@JorgetePanete]

You forgot the question mark.

[@parknplay8328]

@@JorgetePanete fuck

[@zymosan99]

rt game

[@kentlab3850]

Yeah rt's video made that topic come up again and multiple videos got traction from that

[@money_fiery444]

2:07nobody gonna talk about how they built the Mona Lisa

[@ГригорГригорян-й2ч]

Bots, i think.

[@guardianangel1468]

@@ГригорГригорян-й2ч Maybe, but I think it was actually just a lot of people working together, since there were whole subreddits devoted to once thing, such as r/Void or r/blue

[@flouglemireindustries4335]

@@guardianangel1468 Nope they were bots , but just so you know some people were actually trying to change its eyes for some reason.

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

Yea a bunch of people with coordinate bots. It doesnt make it any less impressive imo.

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

I was one of people makin the eyes red :D

[@shinyrayquaza9]

I feel like I was invloved in a big part of history after r/place edit: dang 2k likes wow did not expect that

[@local_catgirl3344]

@Luke yeet he still did as much as you did

[@josuepalomares6820]

@@local_catgirl3344 nothing?...

[@alexsib444]

@@local_catgirl3344 i think i know you

[@JorgetePanete]

involved*

[@ZephaniahNoah]

First time I made a reddit account was for r/place

[@icebread9335]

The Germans invaded france and then it became the Europe union 😂

[@Spectrum16]

truly a happy ending

[@tramachi7027]

I mean given that without France and Germany there wouldnt have been the ECSC. Its firstly funny and historically correct. France went firstly to Germany and offered the ECSC which led to the EU as we all know :D

[@Fanaz10]

germans got hit by lgbt and became the EU

[@net343]

Why are you using my photo

[@icebread9335]

@@net343 holy crap, did you google artificial intelligence?

[@theshadowl4]

0:53 well that escalated quickly

[@ona512]

It's a good way to rewatch small bits of history like this when you weren't there and have no context. Especially the heart and the four corners.

[@guaju]

Also because it’s in your recommended and seems interesting as heck

[@75misterd]

WE (well more like I) vitally need the 2022 version

[@realcell123]

man I thought the thumbnail was minecraft for some reason smh

[@bunbunnbunnybun]

Me too

[@Versuffe]

Me 3

[@SimpIeC]

There's a minecraft version in Reddit btw

[@bruhe8895]

Me too

[@Solbashio]

Normies

[@skoll6007]

0:53 The germans decide it would be pretty funny if their flag invaded the french flag Hey, I've seen this one before....

[@naiwa4227]

We do a little trolling

[@mokongthe3856]

*WW1-2 flash back intensifies*

[@horze3494]

This is actually really interesting, and I don’t even know where you got the time to put all that info together

[@RealDyllon]

The Horseman the r/place data is publicly available

[@thetoppiestofhats6593]

One question where’s the oldest pixel ( the place that was changed before everything else

[@sojourner_303]

There are actually a number of unchanged pixels.

[@thetoppiestofhats6593]

RMaM really where they at?

[@abandonedaccount123]

@@thetoppiestofhats6593 probably in the corner

[@lithonious636]

The fact that this looks so similar to this year's place is kinda scary

[@Galf506]

I actually found them significantly different, this years was much more decorated, some stuff remained, but this year was much more complex, richer, and evoluted.

[@shinjimirou928]

@@Galf506 and a lot more people were involved cuz more streamers were in on it

[@2kratM]

That's why I really enjoyed the new trends like the decorated country flags and random stuff turning into amogus

[@SquibLT]

i would love to see this on the 2022 r/place

[@Knightly_Artworks]

this was weirdly satisfying to watch

[@Teemyv]

0:57 I think I have seen this before

[@Diathan]

this is literally just r/place on mc.

[@ceoofsocialanxiety6658]

'the rainbow hits the german flag and out comes the EU.' Does that imply that the EU is just gay germany?

[@xSayresthx]

Rainbows imply peace. From ww2 came peace and then the EU.

[@nosferatu5]

Sometimes a rainbow is just a rainbow

[@xSayresthx]

@Devon Crusader Luckily that's not up to you to decide.

[@xSayresthx]

@Devon Crusader You know I'm not the one deciding what symbolism is, right?

[@chip1646]

@@snarkylive Oh boy an idiot

[@Copur_]

0:56 is absolutely brilliant

[@rockethero1177]

This is actually beautiful

[@ZaneEckols]

This data visualization is amazing!! I would love to see how the 2022 project will turn out once its concluded!

[@timothygooding9544]

definitly want to see this done with the new r/place from this year

[@IlIIIllIIllIIl]

History repeats itself

[@monolith0212]

Amazing work on so many levels. Great job!

[@qwertyuiop-cy5en]

is that a joke or

[@internalizedhappyness9774]

Finally VR being used to view data sets in extra dimension, I am happy!

[@rollington9024]

KZbin 2017: Hmm... should I recommend this video as its subject is very active and relevant right now... naaah. KZbin 2019: Let's slap a recommendation on this old Bad Boy!

[@theniski]

can people stop doing these unfunny dead comment jokes

[@theniski]

@@BluBOo_ they were funny in 2018, now they're just annoying

[@abandonedaccount123]

the actual like war recreation is so hilarious

[@calderwhite2401]

I love to see developers get credit for their work. Amazing project, very impressive. Thanks for the code and video!

[@JDSnowboarder04]

Can't wait for your breakdown of this current one. Currently defending the Maryland flag lol

[@batonusio]

im defending star wars

[@ThanosIsUglyGD]

I'm defending the Michigun Tribute (the R.I.P. Michi that's above 2b2t)

[@Bayercan]

1:09 mega man shooting his laser at dat boi

[@cking4869]

r place was just the best. I wasn’t part of it myself but I love learning about it’s history, and when it becomes a few decades old, it better be taught in history classes. Such an amazing example of human teamwork and psychology.

[@NPJGlobal]

Please do a 2022 edition of this video! I beg you!

[@TheMercysProphet]

The end really needed a "Thanks for coming to my tedtalk"

[@Ploo-vee]

2:20 Love how the taskbar forms. Looks like a scifi movie.

[@VaraNiN]

Looking forward to this year's data!

[@th3thrilld3m0n]

Can't wait to see the 2022 version.

[@1015KillAtron]

I watched this video twice because of how amazing the watching the visual data change over time is.

[@abarette_]

waiting for a remake

[@DiluteOxygen]

waiting for a remake

[@ELLE_3773]

How TF did I not get this video in my feed in the last 3+ years is truly beyond me, I just love it

[@sheeesh404]

Please do this again for 2022!!!

[@CVerse]

We definitely need this again for this year

[@TheLegend-ib2uo]

Damn ur a smart man. This was hella cool. I love learning about data and shit like that. Keep it up bro!

[@JorgetePanete]

u r*

[@flo1855]

That is nearly what i wanted to see after it was over. What i'd like to see is kind of a heatmap over the course of the full event, but in a way that show the different color pixels as cubes and stacking them. Therefore you could see which pixel changed to which colors.

[@michaelmclean5823]

My mind is melting. SOOO GOOD!

[@kkamikazee]

Why is so many r/place videos popping up in my recommendation This is the 11th one

[@guaju]

Kamikaze same there is a new thing tho called r/ layer

[@TommyLikeTom]

It really is the most intriguing artwork ever produced, and the way you are exploring it is probably the best way

[@jacksonhelgevold6073]

I hope this guy comes back after a 4 year break to make one of these for the 2022 r/place

[@knoxytranger7147]

Pleaseeee make a comeback this year's r/place!! I love this video alott

[@kelqu1262]

Ayo I hope you will do the same for the place this year

[@sono9121]

I was honestly fascinated with what you created here! I would love to continue seeing your work! Thank you!

[@tropical_2034]

Man I hope some one collected the data for the 2022 version

[@ethyr]

This is so abstract and cool. I feel like I'm watching the collective consciousness of the human race

[@caltheuntitled8021]

The German and French flag war ending with a European Union flag in the intersection is one of my favorite stories to come out of rplace and it is a great example of what the whole social experiment proves. None of the pictures would be possible without cooperation between many people. I gave a speech that was partially on this back in high school as a middle finger the the teacher and his depressive outlook on every subject and book we read. It ended up being voted as joint third place for the class, which meant he had to give me extra credit for it.

[@TheoHiggins]

Whenever Place comes up, my eyes will always immediately go to the part of it I helped out with.

[@yonatanschlussel]

That's absolutely amazing

[@superpwnageguy]

Still proud of the osrs community for putting that lost connection in the corner. Nothing beats people who will do the same task over and over again for days on end.

[@leedream5621]

Im sure this popped out on everyone's recommendation

[@invaderlumen]

the best thing about place reopening for april fools this year was seeing the things that returned from the original 2017 r/place experiment

[@ruix]

01:08 it's supposing how historically accurate this is

[@p0k3mn1]

Seeing this sold me on 3D/vr data as a way to inspect data

[@vipert50c77]

I think it would be interesting to get a simulation that instead of replacing pixels it instead places them on top of each other so you can see which parts of the map had the most individual pixels placed. So for example the France flag would be a mountain

[@mamin3152]

one thing I know for sure, is that data visualization is beautiful

[@Cilvathorne]

We need you

[@julioramirez3944]

This has got to be the coolest thing I've seen by a random video on youtube!!!

[@yourgay5150]

Gotta say props to the person who mad the mona lisa and kept it rather clean

[@walterh2113]

Not one person, great big team. We had over 800 members at one point.

[@Zip-xj9qo]

Greetings from r/Place 2022👋

[@ErikUden]

This video was recommended to me for no reason. I love it. You're amazing!

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Everybody fighting over some penguin eyes and Germany there just blitzing

[@checkout5017]

This is so cool. I would love to see more stuff like this but with different settings. Like only 2-4 colours or obstacles in the middle to see how the factions play it out

[@dfm9152]

i see german flag i click video its my duty

[@samwel8671]

this video is extremely good quality this deserves way more subscribers

[@castamere3368]

Awwww shit, here we go agane

[@puzzledquake9516]

Danm 2mins long, no ads, no sponsors. +rep

[@SignalRaptor_]

I wonder if we're going to get another one of these for the new Place. Also is there a mode that just shows towers of every edited pixel dropped on the older pixels? like, retaining everything as a cube, dropped vertically ontop of the others

[@TheTyphoon365]

The Reddit Place image is so cool, its neat how people chose to create stuff together or fight other people

[@dlghwns]

i need to see this year's Canada visualized

[@mitchellalexander9162]

I mean to get people interested in something you need to connect it to something prior they were interested in and r/place is a Major Internet Culture milestone

[@KiemPlant]

Can't wait to give it a try, this looks so cool.

[@Chomps914]

KiemPlant it is over man, you’re few years late

[@KiemPlant]

@@Chomps914 Yeah but I own an oculus rift and it looks really interesting to see this 3d visualisation for myself.

[@noah321]

Gaming Nerd he can still see the visualization you know

[@blackfrost3581]

Yeah...

[@FirstLast-rw5hz]

You better do this again this year, or we riot.

[@yodef6828]

KZbin October-November 2019: LETS SUGGEST THIS

[@guaju]

Same recently r/ place videos have been recommended to me a lot

[@Ludovicus1769]

I just love Denmark and Sweden fighting, and then it ending with them both leaving each other alone.

[@fenix9207]

and now we wait for the 2022 version

[@Akapulko]

r/place is a place for all gamers and memers to come together, they should do it more often

[@claymorwan]

Now u have to do it for the 2022 one

[@hsterts]

I love the use of vr headsets to see graphs like these

[@sbmxz]

Please do this again for the new r/place 2022 !!!

[@Chrispym15]

ITS BACK! cant wait for this type of information to come out

[@alexanderhorvath6887]

You should do the 2022 r/ place

[@YanYanicantbelievethistakenffs]

I love how the three flags on the lowee left were pristine from start to end. They love these 3 countries.

[@Srcsqwrn]

Back when I first saw this I was amazed. What an amazing idea. Will you do something like this for the new r/place that happened? I'd like to see another video, and these little stories you revealed!

[@radio5637]

Just hoping this reply might help boost your comment and get it seen

[@gamescope218]

Just hoping this reply will boost your comment and get it seen

[@bringbackdislikes3195]

Just hoping this will boost your comment and get it seen