Data Visualization Tools - An Early Preview
Here at Idealware world headquarters, we're working on a report on Tools to Graphically Depict Data on a Shoestring (I know, the title needs some work). We're still very much doing research and writing, but we've mapped out a pretty decent view of the tools that are available in this space, so I thought I'd share and see if you know of any I'm missing.
Here's what I've got, for tools that will help you display quantitative data in a visual form without a lot of time, money, or specific skills:
What else is out there? What have I missed?
Here's what I've got, for tools that will help you display quantitative data in a visual form without a lot of time, money, or specific skills:
- Excel: the obvious one. It's quite a flexible and complex tool compared to the others (though those go together -- it's flexibility is so obscure and complicated that many don't know it's there), but it doesn't make it easy to publish graphs online or even in polished printed form.
- Google Docs: nice features for both simple and more interactive graphs, and pretty polished graphs, though very little control over the look of them (check out both the Charts and the Widgets features). All can be easily embedded. Free.
- ManyEyes: the best known of the online visualization tools, with a lot of great format options, and pretty professional looking (though again, very little control over the look). You must publically publish your data with ManyEyes in order to use the tool. Free.
- DabbleDB: lets you create nice, simple graphics from data; simple and easy. Free if you share your data; $8/user/ month otherwise
- Swivel, iCharts, WidGenie: all online tools that let you easily create charts from data, and then publish them. We're still researching them, so I don't know as much about them.
What else is out there? What have I missed?
Subscribe through Feedburner
2 Comments:
There's Tableau, which is crazy powerful but also crazy expensive ($1,000 a seat! Though they give an unspecified discount for nonprofits).
For programmers, there's a bunch of other options, including XML/SWF Charts for Flash charts, and Dojo Charting, PlotKit, flot, ProtoChart, Flotr et al, which are mostly distinguishable by which AJAX toolkit they plug into.
Having just spent a day at the Tableau conference, I'd have to say that "expensive" here is in the eye of the beholder. If spending $1000 on Tableau returns at least $1000 whether in better marketing insights and decisions, saved time in IT or more, it's a worthwhile investment. I listened to several case studies where they reported much better than 2:1 ROI against their investment with Tableau.
Tableau really is about helping you tell a story with your data in the most manageable, meaningful way. And they want this technology to be available for all orgs, small to big.
(By the way, I don't work for Tableau, just have a passion for data and technology. This is an incredible tool!)
Post a Comment
<< Home