What viz.sumApp does
A map is nodes — people, organizations, projects — and the edges between them. viz.sumApp reads that data, renders it as a live network you can move through, and gives administrators real control over what it says: which attributes are filterable, how nodes are coloured and sized, how the map is arranged, and which questions viewers can ask of it.
It is built for the work of making sense of a network, not for producing a static picture of one. Filters, layouts and questions are things the viewer uses, in the browser, while looking at the map.
sumApp surveys
sumApp collects who-knows-whom relationship data from your network directly. Responses feed the map, so it stays a picture of what people actually reported.
JSON, Sheets, or upload
Most projects link a JSON feed. A Google Sheet or a direct upload works just as well — the map does not care where the rows came from.
Quick setup wizard
A guided path from raw data to a usable map: choose the columns that matter, classify them as single- or multi-select, and the wizard seeds sensible filters, styles and views for you.
Filters and chips
Build filters on any column, with whole-word or contains matching, multi-value cells handled properly, and an optional constraint that scopes which elements a filter even judges. Viewers work them as chips on the map.
Ask the network
Prepared questions and an advanced query builder answer things like who bridges two groups, who is isolated, and which connections carry a given attribute — as selections on the map, not a table.
Visual layouts
Cluster by attribute, pack into circles, grid, wordle, UpSet plots, gravity centroids, dual-element clustering — each one a different question about the same network.
Time and change
Initial and last dates are first-class. Timeline layouts and time tags show when relationships started, when they were last active, and how the network moved.
Styles and panels
Colour, size, icons and images by any column, with an advanced styling rail for rule-based looks. Node panels and tooltips show the fields you choose.
Accounts and projects
Each organization gets its own account, members, and projects — each project with its own data source, configuration and published map.
Built for practitioners
Purpose-built for social system mapping, network weaving, and collective impact work — by people who do it.
Google sign-in and Sheets
Google plays a small, optional part: it is one way to sign in, and one of several places your data can live. This section is here so that use is fully documented.
Google Sign-In
Administrators may sign in with a Google account. We use only name and email for authentication and do not access any other Google profile data.
Google Sheets
When an administrator links a Google Sheet as a data source, they choose that one file with the Google file picker. viz.sumApp is granted access only to files chosen that way — it cannot see or list anything else in the administrator's Drive. We use this access to:
- Read the node and edge data needed to render the network map
- Refresh the map when the administrator requests an update
We do not modify, delete, or write to the spreadsheet, and we have no way to reach any other file in the administrator's Google Drive.
Sharing the chosen Sheet
To keep the map updated without requiring the administrator to stay signed in, viz.sumApp shares the chosen spreadsheet with our service account as a Viewer. This is a one-time operation per linked sheet, under the same per-file permission above — no separate access to Drive is requested. The service account has read-only access to that specific file only.
Operator
viz.sumApp is a product of Greater Than the Sum, operated by Tim Hanson and Christine Capra. For questions about the platform or how we handle data, contact accounts@greaterthanthesum.com.