Where to Find Data for Data Viz Art

Data visualization is a powerful tool, but we need proper data to create meaningful experiences. Let’s see where to get data for our data viz art projects.

Diving into the world of data can be tricky. Why? Well, because first we need data. But that’s just the starting point. We need trustable sources, otherwise information will be poor. And we need open data in the right formats to use in TouchDesigner for creative purposes.

There are tons of databases and APIs out there. In this article we cover some trustable data sources you can use right now. Let’s go!

NASA Open APIs for Data Viz Art

What about creating some stunning data visualization about our lovely universe? The NASA Open APIs platform is the right answer.

NASA offers an impressive number of APIs that allow us to retrieve data about the agency projects and space missions. The service is free and an API key is created upon registration. The URL queries are quite simple to develop. Currently 17 APIs services are available, from the Astronomy Picture of the Day to more complex and structured data for advanced visualizations. You can discover more in this dedicated tutorial.

Flight Data APIs

There are several tools we can use for data visualization about air traffic and flight routes. AviationStack is a powerful real time flight status and aviation data API service. Basically, we can retrieve a lot of useful information for creative data viz inside TouchDesigner. AviationStack comes with both free and paid subscription plans based upon API usage.

The query structure is very clear and self explaining. Let’s make an example. We can get the list of all global airports with this simple Python script:

import requests
import json
url = "https://api.aviationstack.com/v1/airports?access_key=55a43fe5fef5e97e65f2a299f98d39be"
response = requests.get(url)
data = response.json()
op('text2').write(json.dumps(data, indent=2))
print(data)

This will be the result:

From the JSON we can extract several useful pieces of info, such as using airports coordinates for geo-based data visualization.

Climate APIs

Climate data are pivotal to understand the health of our planet. There are several open data services out there. A good starting point is Copernicus, the Earth observation initiative of the European Union’s Space programme. Copernicus offer a wide range of data and stats about climate indicators on a global level.

Let’s try an example. We will use a database about rainfall in Europe. After freely registering on the website, we can make the request and wait for the files to be downloaded. We will get a .csv file we can open in TouchDesigner with a Table DAT. After applying some cleaning operations, we will get data about rainfall in all European countries from 1979 to August 2025. Just for testing purposes, in the example we will use just the data about rainfall in Italy.

The workflow is rather simple. We create a tiny Rectangle TOP and instance it in the Geo COMP with data coming from the Table DAT where we store the data. We apply some visual trick and voilà, here is our rainy data visualization.

Wikipedia APIs

The wiki ecosystem offers an impressive number of APIs for real time retrieving of all the contents that have been published on Wikipedia. As in its open nature, all APIs are freely available.

So, to make a simple data visualization, I would like to search for all the pages where my surname – Vernetti – is mentioned.

To do this, we can use this simple request:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=search&srsearch=vernetti&utf8=&format=json

And here is the result:

From this I find that there are politicians, football players, writers and illustrators with my same surname. Maybe we could be relatives too.

City APIs

I find urban data visualization fascinating. A city is an ecosystem of people and buildings that changes day after day.

Several cities around the world have been developed open data initiatives that can provide to be a goldmine for creative data viz projects. While some of them might be not regularly updated, it is worth to have a look:

• New York: NYC Open Data
• Los Angeles: Los Angeles Open Data
• Toronto: Toronto Open Data Portal
• London: City of London Open Data
• Barcelona: Open Data BCN

Bonus point: getting random food recipes

Well, sometimes we just want to have some fun, most of all when approaching lunch time. So what about creating data visualization about random food recipes around the world?

To do so, I found a lovely project called TheMealDB. It is an API service that offers data about recipes around the world. We can search meals by name, by categories or ingredients, and get random recipes as well.

To do that, we can simply use this URL: https://www.themealdb.com/api/json/v1/1/random.php

We will get meal recipes around the world with detailed instructions. What else to add? Buon appetito!

Wrap Up

Getting the right data for data viz art is pivotal, if we want to create stunning visual experiences. Most of all, proper data that conveys the proper information, which is one of the goals of data visualization. As we have seen in this article, there are several trustworthy open data projects over there. So start exploring! As usual, the sky is the limit.