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Fathom Information Design
@fathom.info
220 followers 67 following 63 posts
We build platforms and products for understanding data. https://fathom.info/
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fathom.info
We just launched a desktop version of Rowboat!

* Open much larger files (offline!)
* Own Desktop as a one-time purchase.
* Use a double-clickable app that’s even faster than the web version.

Browser or desktop, your data never leaves your machine.

Read more: www.fathom.info/notebook/251...
The text "Rowboat Desktop" over a gradient background.
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
fathom.info
Following the completion of his summer 2024 internship, we now welcome Andy back as a full time member of the team.
October 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
fathom.info
Voitko sanoa uudelleen? Outside of the studio, Mark’s been studying Finnish and Paul’s learning type design. We’re delighted by these unique Finnish cheatsheets they designed using Paul’s work-in-progress font Lilliput.

#typedesign #finnish #typography #languagelearning #liliput
October 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
fathom.info
Rowboat makes it easy to explore data by filtering down to different subsets.

In this UFO sightings dataset (rowboat.net/f/uzu782mq), ppen the Find tool and filter the “datetime_time” column with “7/4” to see how many sightings happened on July 4th.
One of our favorite examples is a dataset of about 60k OkCupid profiles from the Bay Area in the early 2010s. It’s extremely fun to filter by column and try to find your “soulmate” (or “anti-soulmate”). You can always clear filters, or use undo/redo to flip between recent views. We’ve also made it easy to filter within a single column if a global search feels too broad. For instance, in this UFO sightings dataset, you might want to check how many sightings happened on July 4th—especially the ones described as “fireballs.” To do this, just open the Find tool (top right) and filter the “datetime_time” column with “7/4” to see every sighting that happened on the Fourth of July.
October 2, 2025 at 1:48 PM
fathom.info
We recently made a round of visual updates to Rowboat to make it even easier to spot geographic regions where data is more highly concentrated.

To get more out of your own geographic data, head to www.rowboat.net
Explore the coordinates of major world cities and instantly see the bright hotspots of densely populated areas. Locate regions of the world most likely to be impacted by volcanic activity. Get quick insights into global trade by plotting shipping routes of 500+ commercial vessels.
September 23, 2025 at 6:16 PM
fathom.info
We updated Rowboat’s Chrome extension to open HTML tables and links to .csv, .tsv, and .xls spreadsheets in your browser with a simple right click.

Just locate the dataset you want to examine, right click, and select “Open Table in Rowboat” to start exploring.
September 17, 2025 at 8:00 PM
fathom.info
In our latest blog post, Chase gives us a lesson in wet-bulb temperature calculations, conversing with coworkers while running, and the perks of opting out of the MBTA for your morning commute.

You can read more here: www.fathom.info/notebook/250...
Chase, Libby, and Mark posing for a selfie on the Longfellow Bridge near the end of their run into the office.
August 22, 2025 at 5:37 PM
fathom.info
A few weeks ago, we survived another "Fathom Song Guessing Game" — my favorite day of the year when we all get to know each other a bit better via our musical selections.

This year's theme was UNLEASH THE BEAST.

We have since managed to re-leash our beasts, and the office is back in order.
August 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
fathom.info
📸 Rowboat's header snapshot feature makes it easy to discover insights and instantly share your findings. When you spot something interesting, you’re just a click away from getting it in front of your team or shared online!

Check out the datasets on rowboat.xyz/!
July 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
fathom.info
When your dataset contains columns with lists or arrays instead of single values, the Set Analysis header in Rowboat breaks these entries apart so you can analyze each term individually.

Explore this BoardGameGeek dataset: rowboat.xyz/f/mczim00b
July 8, 2025 at 9:23 PM
fathom.info
We recently dove into papal history, tracking the length of every papacy from 30 AD to 2013.

If your data contains paired values — start and end, or minimum and maximum, just link them and explore the ranges!

Explore the pope dataset with Rowboat 🚣 : rowboat.xyz/f/wvjko69a
We recently dove into papal history, tracking the length of every papacy from 30 AD to 2013. From the 33-day flash of John Paul I in 1978 to the 31-year epic of Pius IX in the 1800s, we can get a closer look at three centuries of papal reigns with our new ranges chart. If your data contains values that can be linked — start and end, or minimum and maximum, just link them and explore the ranges!
June 27, 2025 at 9:06 PM
fathom.info
We are so excited to welcome Karlie as the latest addition to our team!

Karlie is an interdisciplinary designer and developer with an affinity for textile-oriented projects. Check out some of Karlie's incredible work here!
June 26, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reposted by Fathom Information Design
miriamposner.com
I really like Rowboat for introducing students to CSVs, and I’m excited about this new set analysis feature. Lists of items in one column is a really common problem for students to deal with.
“Set Analysis Some data columns contain lists or arrays of individual entries, like this Mechanics column in a board games dataset. To get insight into this data, you can use the Set Analysis header, which will use a configurable format to break up list entries into individual terms. Here, you can see the most common mechanics, as well as an interactive correlation matrix for which mechanics often appear together.” In an image labeled “Mechanics,” a triangle composed of small circles of variegated shades of blue accompanies a list of values: “Mechanics Top terms Most common pair Dice Rolling 5,648 Hand Management 4,129 Set Collection 2,720 Variable Player Powers 2,529 Hexagon Grid 2,247 Simulation 1,940 Card Drafting 1,714 Tile Placement 1,678 182 entries not shown 34,007”
June 25, 2025 at 3:13 PM
fathom.info
Last September, we launched Rowboat — a tool for getting a quick, meaningful first look at your data. Today, we’re excited to share some new features to help you explore your data visually and answer even more questions. Dive in! 🌊

Explore the OKCupid dataset: rowboat.xyz/f/oxr6zumn
From this 2010s OKCupid dataset, users shared both their horoscope sign and how much they cared about astrology. Spoiler: Scorpios and Virgos don’t quite see eye to eye. From this 2010s OKCupid dataset, users shared both their horoscope sign and how much they cared about astrology. Spoiler: Scorpios and Virgos don’t quite see eye to eye. If one of your columns is numeric, use Stacked Histogram instead. Looking at orientation across age groups, we see bisexual orientation was reported more frequently among younger age brackets than older ones. If one of your columns is numeric, use Stacked Histogram instead. Looking at orientation across age groups, we see bisexual orientation was reported more frequently among younger age brackets than older ones.
June 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM
fathom.info
We have a ton of updates we're excited to share about Rowboat, our tool for making sense of large datasets. Read about it on our blog: fathom.info/notebook/250...

We'll also be continuing to share some of these features in more detail here, so keep an eye out for those!
Rowboat: Nine Months Down the River | Fathom Information Design
Lots to share since launching Rowboat: stacks, ranges, bars, and more to come!
fathom.info
June 18, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Fathom Information Design
presentcorrect.bsky.social
Issued in Japan in the early 1950s, two books of Tokyo Post Office infographics. Featuring lots of cute illustrations!

dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2473430/...

dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2473426/...
June 11, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Reposted by Fathom Information Design
pardissabeti.bsky.social
Sierra Leone is battling an mpox variant, G.1, that is rapidly spreading—25% hospitalized, thousands likely infected, cases doubling every two weeks, and now detected in the US & Europe. The country is responding. The world must join them. time.com/7291478/sier...
What Happens in Sierra Leone's Mpox Outbreak Affects Us All
"Mpox, as a pandemic, could be brutal," write Pardis Sabeti and Christian Happi.
time.com
June 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
fathom.info
We're immensely proud of the work we're able to do with @pardissabeti.bsky.social and the Sentinel team at @sabetilab.bsky.social in building systems to get ahead of viral outbreaks, like the mpox outbreak unfolding in Sierra Leone now.

Read more in this latest article:

time.com/7291478/sier...
What Happens in Sierra Leone's Mpox Outbreak Affects Us All
"Mpox, as a pandemic, could be brutal," write Pardis Sabeti and Christian Happi.
time.com
June 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
fathom.info
Thanks for checking it out, Marius!
mariuswatz.bsky.social Marius Watz @mariuswatz.bsky.social · May 21
The Rowboat CSV explorer by @fathom.info is a wonder. No need to open Excel, fix formatting and create the same old formulas to find min/max/median. Skip setting up a test app to see basic graphs. Just drop it in Rowboat.
rowboat.xyz
May 28, 2025 at 6:54 PM
fathom.info
All three top runners in the women's division of the Boston Marathon crushed the previous time record this year!

We took a look at the trends in finish times over the race's history, and were struck by the rapid leaps in record breaking over the first two decades women were allowed to compete.
April 25, 2025 at 7:46 PM
fathom.info
Mark and Paul recently spent some time tinkering with new ways to show an outbreak moving over space, time, and population.
April 16, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Fathom Information Design
pardissabeti.bsky.social
We’re excited to share the completed preprint of Delphy — our new tool for scalable, near-real-time #Bayesianphylogenetics for outbreaks! 🚀
Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Explore Delphy: delphy.fathom.info
Led by #PatrickVarilly @sabetilab.bsky.social @fathom.info 🧵1/17
Delphy: scalable, near-real-time Bayesian phylogenetics for outbreaks
Pathogen genomic analysis is central to tracking, understanding, and containing outbreaks, but complexity and high costs of state-of-the-art (SOTA) phylogenetic tools limit global access and impact. W...
www.biorxiv.org
March 31, 2025 at 3:34 PM
fathom.info
Happy Monday! We wanted to share some of the books we've been reading and enjoying lately.
Book covers assembled on a gradient background
April 14, 2025 at 3:25 PM
fathom.info
Our recent discovery of a 2018 census of Central Park squirrels inspired Katherine to write up a lovely piece walking through how we can quickly unpack the antics of over 3,000 squirrel with Rowboat — a tool we built for diving into new datasets.

fathom.info/notebook/250...
Squirreling Around in Rowboat | Fathom Information Design
Playing around with a squirrel census in Rowboat.
fathom.info
March 11, 2025 at 9:46 PM
fathom.info
Lately, we've been thinking a lot about this piece for inspiration: Marilou Schultz's "Replica of a Chip" is a woven rug that uses Navajo weaving techniques to recreate the patterns found on computer chips, specifically the Intel Pentium processor.
A rug woven with sandy earth colors to create the intricate pattern found on a computer chip. Detail of the woven rug
January 31, 2025 at 8:19 PM