Artist Amy Radcliffe is exploring the relationship of emotion and smell with the Scent-ography device, an analog system designed to capture and reproduce odors. While this is a speculative device, the principles illustrated point to the power of capturing and replicating smells. Given how tightly our emotions are linked to our olfactory senses, capturing and replicating the scent of objects and places could be enormously potent in creating impactful data experiences.
As we move into the extra-visual era of data representation, it is important to remember that the goal is not simply to find the best alternative or complement to visualization. Rather, the ideal is to experience the data more richly. This means that anyone can take a data set and begin to map the parameters to different sensory modes, exploring the data and uncovering new insights. Experiencing data is what humans are evolved to do. Yet, in terms of our ability to understand and use data in meaningful ways, we have only scratched the surface. Moving past visual representation offers new opportunities to discover and communicate insights from data.
Source: https://designmind.frogdesign.com/2014/05/beyond-data-visualization-experiencing-data-senses/