Automation & Tools: Select Work

Automation, workflow, and related tools boost productivity, reduce errors, and increase the scope of what your company delivers. I have extensive experience developing production tools that help people work better.

My work covers graphics production, creating control software for automation tasks, building tools for assisted automation, pipeline tools, and developing systems to work with data sets.

Some solutions handle time-sensitive data, while others focus on reducing repetitive tasks and increasing efficiency.

These tools, used across industries, significantly improve workflows and support complex requirements. I especially enjoy creating visual tools for non-technical users because they give workers direct input and control.

Automation done wrong can do significant damage. That’s why integrity, accuracy, and accountability are foundations of my work.

John Balestrieri

• Graphics Production
• Workflows
• Data Processing
• File Conversion
• Custom Tools

The Associated Press has covered U.S. elections for over 175 years, where fast and accurate reporting is critical.

I developed software and workflows for AP to cover primary and general elections with graphics. The software automated creating and publishing real-time visuals with thousands of data points for races at several levels, including maps and charts.

The system continuously pulled live XML data and transformed it into visuals with hundreds of data points, making manual creation impossible. It provided editorial staff with tools to manage and adjust the output. This software was critical for delivering accurate, up-to-the-minute results and enabled comprehensive coverage of a large-scale, high-visibility event.

The Associated Press storm tracker displays global storm data from a weather source and uses a custom map tile set based on open-source data and information layers created in ArcGIS.

In addition to designing and implementing the front end, I created a separate server process to download, reproject, and create tiles for the cloud layer. I developed the entire solution from scratch, including the multi-level tile-based map viewer.

I designed and built a desktop tool for Standard Issue Design to automate the print mechanical creation for Herman Miller’s materials program, consisting of over 1,600 products. Designers created templates and spreadsheets, which my software processed to generate production-ready layouts efficiently.

The application used my open-source, SVG-based DOM framework for all vector graphics, and implemented self-organizing maps to create visually consistent swatch layouts.

The Associated Press election graphics software automated the entire graphics process for election coverage, from creation to publishing. While generating graphics was essential for efficiency, the software also needed to incorporate editorial processes to verify accuracy due to possible data hiccups.

The system distributed completed graphics and data packages to various workstations, enabling editors to verify results, adjust content, and publish visuals seamlessly. Side-by-side previews and version control reduced errors and allowed changes before publishing, streamlining the review workflow.

I designed and built Stagedoor 2.0, a GUI-based automation server application that handles the graphics publishing workflow for The Associated Press. It automates file conversions, metadata tagging, scheduling, and distribution using drop-in scripts. The system featured robust error handling, remote monitoring, and a web-based interface for easy configuration and management.

Stagedoor 2.0 replaced an outdated system and supported AP’s legacy and evolving content and delivery needs. It enables automated tasks for daily graphics delivery, allowing the graphics service desk team to maintain efficiency and reliability during urgent news cycles.

My markets data software allows visual journalists to automate and semi-automate the retrieval and processing of financial data for daily and weekly graphics. It uses a RESTful API to download data, convert it into a usable format, and package it for review and use.

The tool supports manual use through a graphical interface or automation through scripting, reducing manual effort and ensuring timely, consistent visuals for editorial teams.

I developed several database tools for data-driven reporting at The Associated Press. This graphic required a geolocation tool to map the hometowns of U.S. military personnel killed in action. Using multiple GIS sources, it resolved incomplete or inaccurate Department of Defense data into mappable coordinates.

Developed in FileMaker, the tool featured manual correction options for conflicting entries, supported automated remapping, and maintained an audit trail when updated.

I’ve developed several tools for processing geographic data to improve workflows and visualization. One of these tools converts ESRI DBF and Shapefiles into SVG while maintaining geographic identifiers.

Another tool uses a method of detail reduction that’s more sophisticated than ArcGIS’s implementation. Detail reduction reduces map sizes and is essential for online applications.

I built an application, TableToTree, to solve a recurring problem: converting flat spreadsheet data into structured XML and JSON. Traditional table formats (“spreadsheet data”) have redundant information that makes them inefficient to read or transmit.

TableToTree solves this by letting users arrange data columns into a hierarchical structure, grouping related data and eliminating duplication. It uses a drag-and-drop interface and supports templates for easy reuse.

When the AP needed to pull visuals for an urgent story on Arctic sea ice changes, I developed a tool to convert proprietary-format satellite data into usable images.

The dataset from Nimbus-7 and DMSP SSM/I sensors used a custom format designed for scientific use. My software extracted the necessary visuals and enabled the team to use the images in their graphics.

SuperGraphics is a custom code framework and API that provides direct access to a vector graphics document’s DOM, enabling dynamic manipulation of elements and multi-target outputs like CoreGraphics, PDF, and SVG using a unified API.

It supports all standard vector graphics features, including text support, making it suitable for generating complex documents. My framework API makes templating easy and includes functions to search the DOM for placeholders and create new graphics elements.

SuperGraphics includes flexible text handling features such as custom line spacing, wrapping, hyphenation, and alignment. Custom font definition files maintain consistent text rendering across platforms, producing the same visual output in different environments.

I developed Painty as a research tool for perception-based algorithms, non-photorealistic rendering, and natural media simulation. The software inputs photographs and applies my proprietary operations to produce digital paintings.

Painty incorporates machine vision techniques, neural networks, image processing, and hardware-accelerated rendering. I developed a node-based document format that allowed for experimentation.