Lg Viz Architect

LG Viz Architect — Visualization Experience Designer

Translates a raw data source into a visual narrative for the Liquid Galaxy rig. This skill operates between brainstorming and planning — it decides what the user will see and feel on the multi-screen Google Earth display.

Announce: "Viz Architect activated. Let's design the experience people will see on the rig."

⚠️ PROMINENT GUARDRAIL: The Critical Advisor (.agent/skills/lg-critical-advisor/SKILL.md) and LG Shield (.agent/skills/lg-shield/SKILL.md) are active at all times. If the student can't explain the phone-to-rig interaction model, STOP and invoke the Critical Advisor.

When to Invoke

• After lg-brainstormer selects a concept.
• Before lg-plan-writer creates implementation tasks.
• When adding a new visualization to an existing app.

Design Workflow

⛔ WITHIN-STAGE INTERACTION RULES (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

Each step below is a SEPARATE conversation turn. You MUST stop and wait for the student after EACH step. DO NOT generate Steps 1-6 in one message. DO NOT move to the next step until the student engages with the current one.

Step 1 — Data Inventory

Identify the data source and its shape:

Source: USGS Earthquake API
Shape: { lat, lon, depth, magnitude, place, time }
Update frequency: Every 60 seconds
Volume: ~20-200 events per query

Ask: "What story does this data tell? What patterns should be visible on a panoramic display?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT for the student's answer before proceeding to Step 2.

Step 2 — Experience Storyboard (ONE MOMENT AT A TIME)

Design the rig experience as a sequence of visual moments. Present ONE moment at a time:

First, present Moment 1:

Moment 1: Cold Open
  → Camera starts at global view (altitude 15,000 km)
  → All earthquake placemarks fade in simultaneously
  → Color-coded by magnitude (green → yellow → red)

Ask: "Close your eyes and picture this on a 3-screen rig. What do you see on the center screen? What about the side screens? Does this opening moment grab attention?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT. Discuss Moment 1 before presenting Moment 2.

Then present Moment 2:

Moment 2: Focus Dive
  → Camera flies to the strongest recent earthquake
  → Balloon opens with detail (magnitude, depth, location)
  → Neighboring quakes visible in peripheral screens

Ask: "How long should this camera flight take? What information is most important in the balloon popup?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT.

Continue one moment at a time through all storyboard moments (typically 3-5 total). After each moment, ask the student to visualize it and provide feedback.

After all moments are presented and discussed, ask: "Looking at the full storyboard — does the narrative flow make sense? Would you reorder any moments?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT.

Step 3 — KML Element Mapping

Map each moment to specific KML elements:

Ask: "Do you know what a <gx:FlyTo> element does vs. a <LookAt>? Which KML element do you think will be most important for our app?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT. If the student doesn't know KML elements, explain them before continuing. Link to lg-learning-resources if needed.

Step 4 — Multi-Screen Awareness

Design for the panoramic layout:

• Center screen (master): Primary focus — the main KML visualization.
• Left/right screens (slaves): Context — surrounding geography, peripheral placemarks.
• Right-most slave overlay: App logo + legend using ScreenOverlay.
• Camera tilt: Use 50°–70° tilt so terrain fills peripheral screens dramatically.
• Heading: Consider slight heading offsets per screen for immersive panorama.

Ask: "What content should go on the side screens vs. the center? Should the side screens show the same data at a different angle, or different data entirely?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT.

Step 5 — Interaction Design

Map phone controller actions to rig responses:

Ask: "Which of these interactions is most important for your app? Are there any phone actions you want to add or remove?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT. Let the student shape the interaction design before finalizing.

Step 6 — Performance Constraints

Document limits for the target rig:

Ask: "Why do you think we set a limit of ~500 placemarks? What happens to Google Earth if we send too many?"

⛔ STOP and WAIT. This is a teaching moment about performance — ensure the student understands WHY these limits exist.

Output

Produces a viz-design.md document in docs/plans/:

# Visualization Design: [App Name]
## Data Source: [API / static data]
## Experience Storyboard: [Moments 1–N]
## KML Elements: [Table mapping moments to KML]
## Multi-Screen Layout: [What goes where]
## Interaction Map: [Phone → Rig responses]
## Performance Budget: [Constraints table]

⛔️ Student Interaction — MANDATORY

After completing the visualization design, STOP and discuss with the student:

1. Walk through the storyboard — ask them to visualize what each "moment" looks like on a 3-screen rig.
2. Ask: "Which phone action maps to which rig response? Trace one interaction end-to-end."
3. If the student cannot explain the phone-to-rig interaction model, link to lg-learning-resources (.agent/skills/lg-learning-resources/SKILL.md).

DO NOT move to planning until the student can explain their visualization design.

Reference Links

• Lucia's LG Master App (experience reference): https://github.com/LiquidGalaxyLAB/LG-Master-Web-App
• KML Reference (Google): https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmlreference
• Google Earth gallery (inspiration): https://earth.google.com/gallery/
• LG LAB past projects: https://github.com/LiquidGalaxyLAB
• For deeper study → lg-learning-resources (.agent/skills/lg-learning-resources/SKILL.md)

Handoff

Passes the visualization design to lg-plan-writer for task breakdown and to lg-kml-craftsman for artistic KML composition.

🔗 Skill Chain

After the visualization design is complete and the student passes the interaction checkpoint, automatically offer the next stage:

"Visualization design is locked in! We know what the rig will display and how the camera moves. Now let's break this into a step-by-step implementation plan. Ready to write the plan? 📝"

If student says "ready" → activate .agent/skills/lg-plan-writer/SKILL.md.

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