1. Select the type of data you wish to view.

2. Select the countries for which you wish to view data. Select multiple countries by clicking on each one or using the country groups at the end of the list. You can add to or subtract from your selection by clicking countries individually.

Mac users: Please refer to additional notes.

3. Click "View Now". There will be a small delay while your data is loaded. Most recent data is loaded first, followed by historical data. You can start viewing data straight away, while historical data is still loading but you can only view all historical data when the "loading historical data" message has disappeared.

NOTE: The more countries you select, the longer the loading time and the slower the display will be. Users of older computers may need to bear this in mind.

It's easy! Just use your mouse to move your cursor anywhere over the globe. Click and hold down (left click on a PC) and then gently move your mouse in any direction to rotate the globe. The further you move in any direction, the faster the globe rotates. To stop the globe, move in the opposite direction to which the globe is rotating.

4. Year Controls

Use the slider or the drop-down list to select the year being displayed on the globe. The slider control may be used to sweep through a timeline and view changes as an animated display. This works best when the "colour" checkbox is not selected.

5. Checkboxes are used in the following way:

Data: Shows the numerical value of data for each country next to its bar. Only displays when the "bar" checkbox is ticked.

Country: Displays the name of each country next to its bar. Only displays when the "bar" checkbox is ticked.

Bar: Shows / hides a bar for each country. The colour and size of each bar relates to the quantity it represents. See "understanding the display" for further explanations.

Units: Shows / hides the units for the data being displayed.

Colour: Fills each country with a colour to represent its "rank order" among the countries selected. Countries which rank higher for the data type selected are shown as "hotter" or lighter. Countries which rank lower are shown as "colder" or darker. See "understanding the display" for more details on the colour scale used. NOTE: "Colour" slows down the display and other controls significantly. This may cause poor performance on older computers.

Invert: This function makes small bars large and large bars small. It is useful for spotting low quantities. For example if one is looking for countries with a low population, use the invert checkbox so that bars for countries with low population stand out more readily.

 

6. Data Filter

Once you have selected and shown information on the globe, you may wish to further refine your selection. The data filters allow modify the number of countries being displayed on the globe. Countries are filtered by value. For example, if you have selected population and would like to view only countries with a high population, you would move the low data slider toward the top, removing countries with a low population one by one. The low and high filters may be used in combination to display any number of countries for any range of values. NOTE: These controls work slowly if "colour" is selected. On some computers it may be best to use data filters with "bars" only and then select the "colour" checkbox when you have made your selection with the data filters.

7. Data Finder

Moving the data finder highlights each country displayed one at a time. The data, country and date are displayed in the area 10. Clicking the "source" button, 11, displays the original source of the data selected.

 

8. Data Slider

The data slider simply reduces the size of all the bars. This may be useful when there are many large bars displayed. It is also useful when used in combination with the zoom slider - when inspecting neighbouring countries, it might be necessary to reduce the size of bars in order to clearly see the data and text displayed for each country.

 

9. Zoom

Allows you to zoom in and inspect the globe in greater detail.

12. Earth Checkboxes

These controls allow you to show or hide geographical and display features. It may be useful to uncheck some features if the display becomes slow.

13. Refresh Controls

These allow you to select the rate at which the globe is refreshed with data.

14. New Data

Highlights countries whose data has changed since last refresh.

Colour of bars. Dynamic scale, determined by value.

Bars are coloured according to the colour scale on the right. Negative values are shown as blue, positive values as red. Intermediate values are interpolated. This scale, like the bars length scale, is dynamic - that is to say it is determined by the high and low values being displayed. Very often there are a small number of countries with a which are much higher or lower value than others - consequently many bars are shown as grey. Bar colours allows easy sorting of positive and negative values and supplements bar length as a display method.

Java 1.1 or later installed on your computer. Most PCs and Macs already have Java installed.

A web browser with Java enabled.

CPU 233 MHz or above. Some users with slower CPUs may suffer a variety of performance degrading issues.

 

Users of older computers please note: The more items displayed on the globe, the slower the application will run. If you are having problems, switch off "colour" and try selecting a smaller number of countries. If the display takes a long time to react to the data sliders or the date slider, this is also a sign that you should reduce the number of countries or the number of items on the display.

Global-i should work on a mac just as it does on a PC. There is one exception to this which certain users may experience.

When selecting multiple countries from the list of countries, the country groupings such as "all countries" and "G8" may not work. Instead you may select multiple countries using click and drag to highlight many countries in the list.

The default display is not optimised for the type and amount of data you wish to display. You are going to need to make adjustments to get the most meaningful display. These adjustments are described below:

The actual values and units for the quantities being displayed can be seen numerically but these values are visually represented in 3 different ways on the display.

Size of bars. Dynamic scale, determined by relative value.

Represents the numerical value of the quantity being displayed. The largest value shown will be represented by a long bar. The minimum value is represented by a short bar. Intermediate values are interpolated and shown as bars of corresponding length. The scale is dynamic - determined by the high and low values to be displayed. Bars allow you to spot quickly when there are many high values, many low values or a small number of outstanding high or low values. Using the Invert checkbox allows you to spot low or negative values more easily.

Colour of countries. Rank order scale.

When the "colour" checkbox is selected, countries are coloured according to their rank order. The colour is independent of the actual value but represents the countries being displayed in order of their value. For example if we have chosen population, China will be ranked number one, followed by India, USA, Indonesia.............. The colour scale reflects each selected country's standing in this "rank order". See colour scale to the right.

 

No cone, country not coloured.

This means that we do not have data for that particular country for the year you have selected. If you can select the country we do have some data but not necessarily for all years.