Why

Why actually?

This website is the result of a learning project. My real goal was to learn more about data analysis in general. I was looking for a suitable data set for this. And the level data for Lake Constance became available quite quickly. Since I grew up on Lake Constance, I have a connection to the data. The data itself is publicly accessible (#opendata). And the data set for the Konstanz measuring station is around 200 MB in size. This is a pretty ideal size, as you can no longer process this amount of data in Excel or other spreadsheet programs. But this is just tiny for analysis with Python / Pandas.

After taking my first steps with Pandas, I actually wanted to pursue a data analytics certification. As I was writing it, I realized that I hadn’t yet dealt with the topic in a sufficiently practical way. I didn’t want to memorize. And so the idea of a practical application came about. Hands-on data analysis, so to speak. The result is this website.

Added Value

What added value does this site offer? Of course you have to ask yourself this question. It’s #OpenData. So, the data already exists. And they are available on many different websites. I defined my added value as follows:

Long reference period. Most data on the level of Lake Constance covers a period from 1981 onwards. This is based on a standardization of the LUBW. That’s understandable, but it’s too short for me. This website therefore takes data from 1888 into account.

Error band. I find the addition of an error band in the graphical preparation extremely helpful. Behind this lies the question of what is “normal”.

Optimized for mobile devices. The website should work very well on smartphones. Not perfect. The menu sometimes causes problems. But the most important information is available directly on the homepage. And no horizontal scrolling is necessary.

No tracking, no advertising. I work in the field of marketing and online advertising myself. I don’t need that privately either. This website currently has no tracking and does not use cookies. Sure, a website costs money. I’ll have to watch this for this website. I’m currently assuming it costs around 100 euros per year. This can be done as a hobby. But I don’t want to rule out the possibility that I might look for a sponsor or set up a donation fund. That depends on how it develops.

International. This website is also available in English - as you can see. Any advice on better translations is very welcome.