Visualizing your love for data

This post is in celebration of the love data week between Feb-13-Feb 17, 2023. 

Analytics screen graph.
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash 

What is Data visualization?  

For this author, it was love at first sight. Well, technically, it was love at first Visualization. So many say seeing is believing, and data visualization helps us accomplish that, especially at the rate at which data is increasing exponentially in our world. The truth is that data is everywhere, and for us to draw meaning from it, we need to present it in a clear and concise manner.  

Data visualization is the graphical representation of data. Data can be represented in various forms and shapes, such as maps, charts, infographics, graphs, heat maps, or sparklines. When data is presented through visual elements, it is easy to understand and analyze. It helps you to derive meaning from the data and make better decisions. Visualizing your data involves using certain tools; these tools help you fall more in love with data.  

Data Visualization tools are software that allow you to create graphical representations of your data.  

Here are some tools to help you get started. These have been selected based on their ease of use, features (such as capacity for large volumes of data), cost, and popularity.

  1. Data Wrapper: If you are just starting out with data Visualization and you are looking for a free tool to help you get started, Data wrapper is your plug. Data Wrapper is a beginner-friendly tool with a clean and intuitive user interface accessible online. It is straightforward to navigate and great for creating charts and maps that can be easily embedded into reports. It also allows you to upload your files in various formats such as CSV, .tsv, and .txt 

Pros: 

  • Great for beginners.
  • Free to use.
  • Accessible online tool.

Cons:  

  • It can be challenging to build complex charts. 
  • Limited features. 
  • Security is not guaranteed as it is an online tool.
  1. Infogram: If you are not super design-inclined, this visualization tool should be your best friend. It has an editor drag-and-drop feature that makes it super easy to create beautiful designs without having to worry about where you are with your design skills. Infographics, marketing reports, maps, social media posts, and many more are examples of what you can create with this powerful tool. In addition, your data output can be exported in various formats, such as. JPG, GIF, PNG, HTML, and . PDF.  

Pros:

  • Web-based. 
  • Drag-and-drop editor.
  • Easy to use.
  • Highly customizable.

Cons: 

  • Built-in data sources are limited.
  • Not suitable for complex visualization.
  1. Google charts: Google Charts is another free data visualization tool that is user-friendly and compatible with all browsers and platforms. If you like to play around with codes, then Google Charts provides you with that option. Google Charts are coded with SVG and HTML5, allowing it to produce several graphic and pictorial data visualizations, ranging from simple visualization such as pie charts, bars, charts, histograms, maps, and scatter graphs to more complex ones such as hierarchical tree maps, timelines, and gauges. Google fusion tables, spreadsheets, and SQL databases are examples of data sources that can be used with Google Charts.  

Pros:

  • It is free.
  • It is compatible with various browsers.
  • Compatible with google products.

Cons:

  • Technical support is limited.
  • It requires network connectivity for visualization. 
  • There is no room for customization. 
  1. Tableau: This is one of the most popular data visualization tools, mainly because of the free public version that this software provides. Tableau provides the option of a desktop app, server, and online versions. In addition, this software has several data importation options, such as CSV files for google ads. Similarly, if you are looking into presenting your data in various formats, such as multiple chart formats and mapping, then Tableau is the one for you.  

Pros:

  • Provides several options for data import. 
  • It is available for free (public version).

Cons:

  • Lack of Privacy in the public version. 
  • Paid versions are costly. 

5. Dundas BI: Although this is one of the oldest data visualization tools, it is still standing strong as one of the most powerful tools for visualizing data with interactive charts, tree maps, gauges, smart tables, and scorecards. This interactivity allows users to understand the data quickly. Dundas BI is also highly customizable. Dundas BI operates on the ground of responsive HTML5 web technology that allows users to connect, analyze and interact with their data on any device. This powerful tool also provides a built-in feature for extracting data from many data sources.  

Pros:

  • Highly flexible.
  • Provides a variety of visualization options.

Cons: 

  • It lacks predictive analysis. 
  • Does not support 3D charts.  

There you have it! Now you know the tools to ask out on a date when you are ready to visualize your data. As much as you love data, these tools can help make others fall in love with your data, too.   

Exploring Data Visualization #18

In this monthly series, I share a combination of cool data visualizations, useful tools and resources, and other visualization miscellany. The field of data visualization is full of experts who publish insights in books and on blogs, and I’ll be using this series to introduce you to a few of them. You can find previous posts by looking at the Exploring Data Visualization tag.

Painting the World with Water

Creating weather predictions is a complex tasks that requires global collaboration and advanced scientific technologies. Most people know very little about how a weather prediction is put together and what is required to make it possible. NASA gives us a little glimpse into the complexities of finding out just how we know if it’s going to rain or snow anywhere in the world.

Continue reading

Exploring Data Visualization #17

In this monthly series, I share a combination of cool data visualizations, useful tools and resources, and other visualization miscellany. The field of data visualization is full of experts who publish insights in books and on blogs, and I’ll be using this series to introduce you to a few of them. You can find previous posts by looking at the Exploring Data Visualization tag.

The unspoken rules of visualization

Title header of essay "The unspoken rules of data visualization" by Kaiser Fung. White text on a black background with green and red patches Continue reading

Exploring Data Visualization #16

Daylight Saving Time Gripe Assistant Tool

Clocks fell back this weekend, which means the internet returns once again to the debate of whether or not we still need Daylight Saving Time. Andy Woodruff, a cartographer for Axis Maps, created a handy tool for determining how much you can complain about the time change. You input your ideal sunset and sunrise times, select whether the sunset or sunrise time you chose is more important, and the tool generates a map that shows whether DST should be gotten rid of, used year-round, or if no changes need to be made based on where you live. The difference a half hour makes is surprising for some of the maps, making this a fun data viz to play around with and examine your own gripes with DST.

A map of the United States with different regions shaded in different colors to represent if they should keep (gray) or get rid of (gold) changing the clocks for Daylight Saving Time. Blue represents areas that should always use Daylight Saving Time.

This shows an ideal sunrise of 7:00 am and an ideal sunset of 6:00 pm.

Laughing Online

Conveying tone through text can be stressful—finding the right balance of friendly and assertive in a text is a delicate operation that involves word choice and punctuation equally. Often, we make our text more friendly through exclamations points! Or by adding a quick laugh, haha. The Pudding took note of how varied our use of text-based laughs can be and put together a visual essay on how often we use different laughs and whether all of them actually mean we are “laughing out loud.” The most common laugh on Reddit is “lol,” while “hehe,” “jaja,” and “i’m laughing” are much less popular expressions of mirth.

A proportional area chart showing which text laughs are most used on Reddit.

“ha” is the expression most likely to be used to indicate fake laughter or hostility

how to do it in Excel: a shaded range

Here’s a quick tip for making more complex graphs using Excel! Storytelling with Data’s Elizabeth Ricks put together a great how-to article on making Excel show a shaded range on a graph. This method involves some “brute force” to make Excel’s functions work in your favor, but results in a clean chart that shows a shaded range rather than a cluster of multiple lines.

A shaded area chart in Excel

Pixelation to represent endangered species counts

On Imgur, user JJSmooth44 created a photo series to demonstrate the current status of endangered species using pixilation. The number of squares represent the approximate number of that species that remains in the world. The more pixelated the image, the fewer there are left.

A pixelated image of an African Wild Dog. The pixelation represents approximately how many of this endangered species remain in the wild (estimated between 3000 and 5500). The Wild Dog is still distinguishable, but is not clearly visible due to the pixelation.

The African Wild Dog is one of the images in which the animal is still mostly recognizable.