21 Essential Data Visualization Tools
We have collected leading data visualization tools, with a short overview of each tool, its strong and weak points.
If you’re looking for a JavaScript library for image and vector-tiled maps using SVG, Polymaps is the tool to consider. It provides speedy display of multi-zoom datasets over maps, and supports a variety of visual presentations for vector data. Moreover, Polymaps can load data at a full range of scales. As the tool uses the spherical mercator tile format, publishing information is as quick as taking a snap.
Raw is an open web app to create custom vector-based visualizations. It’s a customizable project on LGPL license, and you can freely download it and modify it. Even though Raw is a web app, the data uploaded by you will be processed only by the web browsers, with no side-server interactions. You can export your visualizations in vector (SVG) or raster (PNG) format.
It’s an easy-to-use app that helps you create stunning visualizations with ease. Just open data and explore it with Tableau Desktop Public Edition. Then, save and store the visualizations on your Public profile with 1 GB of space. Finally, share your visualizations with the world via social media, or put them on a site or blog.
Timeline.js will make you love creating beautiful timelines that are easy and intuitive to use. It is an open-source tool that enables you to build visually-rich interactive timelines and is available in 40 languages. It can pull in media from various sources and has built-in support for Twitter, Flickr, Google Maps, YouTube, Vimeo, Vine, Dailymotion, Wikipedia, SoundCloud and more. Here you can see some example timelines generated by the app.
Visual.ly is a combined gallery and infographic creator. It offers simple tools for stunning data presentations. In addition, there is a platform to share your graphics. The content that Visual.ly allows you to create goes far beyond ordinary visual analytics.
WolframAlpha claims itself to be a computational knowledge engine, and a Google rival in analytics. It’s awesome in displaying charts in response to data queries without the need for any configuration. Should you use public data, you can use a simple widget builder to make visualizations on your site really simple.
ZingChart is a powerful library that provides users with the ability to quickly create beautiful charts, dashboards, and infographics. You are free to choose from hundreds of chart types with almost limitless chart design and customization options. You may also engage your users with interactive chart features.
My Personal Opinion
As you can see, there is plenty of Data Visualization tools that will make you understand your users in a better, more insightful way. There are many tools being launched every day, but I managed to collect those that are the most popular in the ‘industry’. Of course, they have both strong and weak sides, since there is no one perfect tool to visualize the metrics. All I can do is to recommend you trying them yourself and combining them in order to maximize the efficiency of visualizing data.
Bio: Piotr Kuźniewicz, is an armchair enthusiast turned gym freak with the passion for writing. In his free time he does stand-up comedy to show people what drives him mad. As a blogger and writing passionate, he fell in love with content marketing, for which he is responsible at UsabilityTools.
Related:
- Top KDnuggets tweets, Dec 22-23: Great list: 20 new data viz tools of 2014; Review of “Learning from Data” MOOC
- Zingchart Interactive JavaScript Charts for Big Data
- R vs Python for Data Science: The Winner is …
