22 free tools for data visualization and analysis You may not think you've got much in common with an investigative journalist or an academic medical researcher. But if you're trying to extract useful information from an ever-increasing inflow of data, you'll likely find visualization useful -- whether it's to show patterns or trends with graphics instead of mountains of numbers, or to try to explain complex issues to a nontechnical audience. There are many tools around to help turn data into graphics, but they can carry hefty price tags. The cost can make sense for professionals whose primary job is to find meaning in mountains of information, but you might not be able to justify such an expense if you or your users only need a graphics application from time to time, or if your budget for new tools is somewhat limited. If one of the higher-priced options is out of your reach, there are a surprising number of highly robust tools for data visualization and analysis that are available at no charge. DataWrangler (and subsequently Trifacta)
The Desktop Wallpaper Project 1280×800 • 1440×900 • 1680×1050 • 1920×1200 • 2560×1440 • 3840×2400 • iPhone 5 • iPhone 6 • iPhone 6+ • iPad When I come across a well-designed pattern I tend to marvel at the time and effort that must have taken place to achieve such perfection. In my mind I see it as an artist creating a jigsaw puzzle in their head without the photo on the box to guide them. One such master is Nancy McCabe, a surface designer from Chicago who runs No Ocean, a design studio that specializes in surface designs and prints. For Nancy’s wallpaper we decided to go with her Ink Dots pattern. 1280×800 • 1440×900 • 1680×1050 • 1920×1200 • 2560×1440 • 3840×2400 • iPhone 5 • iPhone 6 • iPhone 6+ • iPad It’s always fun visiting with old friends. This wallpaper is titled I Hate Parties, which is about “that dreadful feeling when for one reason or another, you clam up at a social gathering of some sort, and just sit back and detach yourself from the situation and those around you.” I feel you Emory.
Visualization Types - Introduction to Data Visualization This taxonomy is based on a data taxonomy from: Shneiderman, B. (1996). The eyes have it: A task by data type taxonomy for information visualizations. Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages - Boulder, CO (pp. 336-343). The taxonomy is heavily weighted toward the more abstract information visualization techniques and is less representative of scientific visualizations, which can be highly specialized by domain and are more difficult to generalize. (A slightly different taxonomy with examples is available at Visual Analytics Digital Library - Visualization Types) Examples: lists of data items, organized by a single feature (e.g., alphabetical order)(not commonly visualized) back to top 2D/Planar (especially geospatial) Examples (geospatial): Examples (artificial planes): self-organizing mapTools: Synapse, MatlabExamples: Last.fm, In Terms of GeographyImage created in Matlab from sample data set. Broadly, examples of scientific visualization: See also: Wills, G. (2012).
The Art of Insight and Action Every Day of My Life Apps Every Day of My Life is a visualization of my computer usage statistics from the last 2.5 years. Each line represents one day and each colorful block is the most foreground app running at the given moment. Black areas are periods when my computer is not turned on. All data was gathered using Tapper - a small OSX app logging my application usage written by Dean McNamee. The project was presented as prints at Click festival in Helsingør at the beginning of May in 2012. Keyboard hits Mouse clicks Printed version presented at Click festival Check out more photos and screenshots on Flickr. How to choose the right chart (corrected) | viewtific A friend recently asked me, “how do you choose the right chart?” I thought about it, and essentially sent her a list of the sites that I have bookmarked, along with a few comments. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and it’s meant more for a layperson, but here’s the list, nonetheless. If you have more suggestions, I’d love to hear them. I’ll follow up with a future post illustrating a few of these, and summarizing best practices and my experiences (a post which my toddler recently published in draft form–word to the wise, never let your toddler near your blog In the meantime… Which chart should I use Limited to basic charts but half the time, that’s all you need. From Illustrator to information designer: For more traditional graphic designers (not coders) seeking to make the move to data visualization and understanding both the mechanics and the theory behind visualizing information, a crash course in handling data in Adobe Illustrator is helpful. On good data visualization practices:
Tomasz Dziemianczuk z Greenpeace wyszedł na wolność 21 lis 13 15:19 - Kilka minut temu opuścił areszt - powiedział Rafał Poniatowski, dziennikarz TVN24, który przebywa aktualnie w Rosji. Reporter dodał, że Polak czuje się dobrze. Polak na proces będzie musiał czekać na terytorium Rosji. Od początku tygodnia petersburskie sądy zgodziły się na wypuszczenie za kaucją 17 członków załogi "Arctic Sunrise", w tym obywatela RP Tomasza Dziemianczuka, 37-letniego pracownika Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego. Jedynym, któremu przedłużono aresztowania o trzy miesiące, tj. do 24 lutego 2014 roku, jest obywatel Australii Colin Russell, radiotelegrafista z "Arctic Sunrise". 18 września działacze Greenpeace'u z pokładu statku "Arctic Sunrise" usiłowali dostać się na należącą do koncernu paliwowego Gazprom platformę wiertniczą Prirazłomnaja na Morzu Barentsa, aby zaprotestować przeciwko wydobywaniu ropy naftowej w Arktyce.
Visual Encoding Michael Dubakov, TargetProcess Founder September, 2012 How do people perceive information? How designers can thrive on this process to help people understand data faster? The visual encoding is the way in which data is mapped into visual structures, upon which we build the images on a screen. The goal of this article is to provide an engaging introduction to visual encoding, and to give some hands-on examples of how it helps to present data in a meaningful way. We’ll start with some complex things: data types (→). Quantitative Anything that has exact numbers. For example, Effort in points: 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13. Ordered / Qualitative Anything that can be compared and ordered. User Story Priority: Must Have, Great, Good, Not Sure. Categorical Everything else. Entity types: Bugs, Stories, Features, Test Cases. OK, we've got some data. X and Y Planar variables are known to everybody. So what should we do then to present three or more variables? Size We know that size does matter. Texture Shape #1. #2.
A visualização como carro-chefe do jornalismo de dados Antes de traçar ou mapear seus dados, reserve um minuto para pensar sobre os muitos papéis que elementos gráficos, estáticos ou interativos, têm no jornalismo. Esses papéis sugerem que você deve começar cedo a incluir visualizações na sua reportagem, mesmo que não inicie ao mesmo tempo o trabalho eletrônico com os dados. Não considere a visualização uma etapa separada, após a redação de grande parte da matéria. Deixe-a ajudar a guiar suas reportagens. Às vezes, começar significa apenas colocar uma forma visual nas anotações que você já fez. Considere este gráfico abaixo, publicado pelo Washington Post em 2006. Ele mostra a renda agrícola dos últimos 45 anos associada a subsídios e eventos importantes. Dica 1: Utilize múltiplos pequenos para se orientar rapidamente em meio a um grande conjunto de dados Usei essa técnica no Washington Post quando analisamos uma sugestão de pauta ligada à administração de George W. Imagem 3. Olhe para eles em diferentes escalas. Dica 3: Não faça suposições