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We present a morphological and physical analysis of a giant molecular cloud (GMC) using the carbon monoxide isotopologues (12CO, 13CO, C18O 3 P 2 → 3 P 1) survey of the Galactic Plane (Mopra CO Southern Galactic Plane Survey), supplemented with neutral carbon maps from the HEAT telescope in Antarctica. The GMC structure (hereinafter the ring) covers the sky region 332° < ℓ < 333° and |$\mathit {b}$|  = ±0.5° (hereinafter the G332 region). The mass of the ring and its distance are determined to be |${\sim }2\times 10^{5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot}$| and |${\sim }3.7\rm \, kpc$| from the Sun, respectively. The dark molecular gas fraction – estimated from the 13CO and [C  i ] lines – is |${\sim }17{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$| for a CO Tex between [10, |$20\rm \, K$| ]. Comparing the [C  i ] integrated intensity and N(H2) traced by 13CO and 12CO, we define an X |$\mathrm{_{CI}^{809}}$| factor, analogous to the usual X co, through the [C  i ] line. |$X\mathrm{_{CI}^{809}}$| ranges between [1.8,2.0] |$\times 10^{21}\, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}\, \mathrm{K}^{-1}\, \mathrm{km}^{-1}\, \mathrm{s}$|⁠. We examined local variation in X co and T ex across the cloud, and find in regions where the star formation activity is not in an advanced state, an increase in the mean and dispersion of the X co factor as the excitation temperature decreases. We present a catalogue of C18O clumps within the cloud, and report their physical characteristics. The star formation (SF) activity ongoing in the cloud shows a correlation with T ex, [C  i ], and CO emissions, and anticorrelation with X co, suggesting a North–South spatial gradient in the SF activity. We propose a method to disentangle dust emission across the Galaxy, using H  i and 13CO data. We describe virtual reality and augmented reality data visualization techniques, which open new perspectives in the analysis of radio astronomy data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]