Tao of Mac

Apr 15th 2008 · 5 min read

Visualization

This is a list of miscellaneous resources I’ve come across dealing with data visualization in several forms.

The Graphs and Graphing and Visualization pages will be subsumed by this one in the fullness of time.

Ratings are entirely subjective based on my interest.

Charting and Plotting

Date Link Type Formats Rating Notes
2017
May 27th Plotnine iPython ★★★★★ A graphing grammar that works atop ggplot2
2016
May 21st XKCD plots in matplotlib Multiple ★★★★★ Because real life mimics comics sometimes.
May 8th Vega Multiple Multiple ★★★★★ a declarative format for creating, saving, and sharing visualization designs, powering a number of tools.
2015
Dec 7 d3.compose SVG ★★★★★ Another D3 extension for composing charts
Mar 18 Textures.js SVG ★★★★ An amazing D3 add-on that provides textured fills.
2014
Nov 14 MetricsGraphics.js SVG ★★★★ Another D3 wrapper, with nice features for dashboards.
Aug 7 Chartist SVG ★★★ Interesting approach to responsiveness, not many features.
Jul 28 Vincent SVG ★★★★ Glue for creating charts in iPython notebooks
Bearcart SVG ★★★★
Jul 25 Bokeh Multiple ★★★★ Very impressive for server-driven rendering.
Jul 11 CanvasXPress Canvas ★★★ Not very useful to me, but has a few unusual plot types, like heatmap and Venn diagrams.
C		 JSXGraph SVG ★★★★ Excellent for interactive mathematics.
dimple SVG ★★★★ Yet another D3 wrapper
dygraphs JavaScript Canvas ★★★★ Very sophisticated.
xCharts SVG ★★★ Simple and uncluttered.
C3.js SVG ★★★★★ Provides a very interesting set of options.
Peity SVG ★★★ Good for sparklines.
Jun 26 Epoch SVG ★★★★★ Real-time charting done sensibly
Jun 24 BlockSpring Multiple ★★★★★ A whole site devoted to modular visualization
Jun 10 dc.js SVG ★★★★★ A charting library based on D3 with native crossfilter support
2013
Nov 15 chartjs SVG ★★★★ Nice design, but free only for non-commercial use.
Nov 11 HighCharts SVG ★★★★ Free for non-commercial use. Constantly updated, but somehow I just can’t bear it.
Oct 1 ChartJS Canvas ★★★★★ Simple, straightforward, easy to use.
2012
Nov 28 XKCD charts in D3 N/A I just had to make note of this.
Oct 30 crossfilter N/A ★★★★★ A library for exploring large multivariate datasets in the browser.
Jul 12 Rickshaw SVG ★★★★ Another D3 wrapper.
May 3 nvd3.js SVG ★★★★★ A simplified D3 wrapper that I found terribly useful.
Apr 25 Cubism.js SVG ★★★★★ A D3 plugin that supports horizon charts, one of my personal favorites for time series visualization.
Apr 16 Envision HTML canvas ★★★★★ An extension of HumbleFinance (below) with extra features.
2011
Apr 9 Graphite Misc. ★★★★ A complete data collection and real time charting framework.
2010
Sep 20 webtreemap HTML ★★★★★ Brilliant treemap code.
Aug 3 streamgraph.js HTML canvas ★★★★ An elegant streamgraph implementation.
Mar 13 HumbleFinance HTML canvas ★★★★ A very good reimplementation of the Finance charts.
2009
Nov 2 Protovis SVG ★★★★★ Seems pretty damn good and provides an amazing array of output formats with a simple approach to coding.
Jun 6 Fun With Canvas: Create a jQuery Graph Plugin JavaScript HTML canvas ★★★★ Simple and effective
May 23 Axiis : Data Visualization Framework “Flex”:Wikipedia:Adobe_Flex library Flash ★★★★ Built atop Degrafa, adding a few layout primitives and other building blocks.
Degrafa : Declarative Graphics Framework “Flex”:Wikipedia:Adobe_Flex library Flash ★★★★ Seems very flexible and powerful.
Mar 03 RGraph library HTML canvas ★★★★★ Pretty extensive, does interaction, Gantt charts, supports “ASCII”:Wikipedia:ASCII text rendering as well.
Jan 28 jsxgraph library HTML canvas, SVG ★★★ Good for mathematical plotting.
2008
Dec 23 TimeSeriesGraph Source code Flash ★★★★ A clone of the Finance zoomable charts
Sep 17 Bluff: Beautiful graphs in JavaScript library HTML canvas ★★★★ A port of the Gruff library for Ruby. Very small and lightweight, can pull data straight off HTML tables.
Previously Viewer and server-side libraries Flash ★★★★★ Pretty damn good, only thing I don’t like are the funky tooltips
Web Service PNG ★★★★ Lots of chart types, but “URL”:Wikipedia:URL API makes it a bit limited
Plotkit library HTML canvas, SVG ★★★ Simple and to the point, hasn’t been updated since 2006
Flot jQuery extension HTML canvas ★★★★★ Amazingly powerful, supports interactive zooming of data
ExtFlot jQuery extension HTML canvas ★★★★★ Extended version using ExtJS
amCharts Viewer Flash ★★★★ Commercial (free with hard-coded link to home site)
XML/SWF Charts Viewer Flash ★★★ Commercial (free with hard-coded link to home site)
Pychart library PDF, PNG, SVG ★★★ Good for complex scientific plots. Not updated since 2006.
Chaco library Qt and GUI, primarily ★★★★★ Best suited for “GUI”:Wikipedia:GUI apps
ZedGraph classes Multiple ★★★ Usable for server-side chart generation as well as GUI
Pybrary Plot C# Multiple ★★ Simple and straightforward
nplot C# Multiple ★★★ Primarily aimed at server-side plots
Gnuplot tool Multiple ★★★★ The old favorite, great for scientific plotting but too complex for simple stuff
ploticus tools Multiple ★★★★★ Great for very large datasets
Standalone tool with multiple language bindings PNG ★★★★★ Excellent for system and network monitoring over large periods of time
Desktop app PDF, , PNG ★★★★ Simple and to the point, great for off-the-cuff graphs

Graphs

Date Link Type Formats Rating Notes
2014
Sep 22 arbor.js Canvas ★★★★ Very fast.
Jun 11 Cytoscape.js Canvas ★★★★ With some interesting interactivity features.
Jun 10 JSNetworkX SVG ★★★ A port of the Python networkx graph library.
May 30 GoJS Multiple ★★★★ Commercial, but interesting.
Apr 16 vis.js HTML canvas ★★★★ Can do timelines besides graphs.
2013
Sep 29 sigma.js HTML canvas ★★★★★ A library for direct interaction with GEXF representations
2012
Nov 28 Gephi GL ★★★★ A very nice platform for interactive graphs
Jun 12 UbiGraph OpenGL N/A ★★★★★ An awesome client-server approach that can handle thousands of dynamic nodes and has a number of language bindings.
2011
Feb 10 canviz library HTML canvas ★★★★★ A browser-side implementation.
Previously Desktop and app Multiple ★★★★★ The quintessential graph rendering application, also available with a spiffy GUI
The JavaScript Canvas Hyperbolic Tree library HTML canvas ★★★★ Very good interactive navigation
Moowheel library HTML canvas ★★★★★ Not much interaction, but good visuals
Graph Gear Viewer Flash ★★★ A bit too funky for my taste – might be usable after a thorough visual review
jsViz library HTML canvas, SVG, “VML”:Wikipedia:VML ★★★★★ Impressively fast
Hypergraph applet N/A ★★★ Slow and pokey

Scientific Visualization

Date Link Type Formats Rating Notes
2011
Jul 28 cinder GL ★★★★★ Very high performance native code, with Mac/Xcode support.
Jul 13 d3.js SVG ★★★★★ Allows for interesting interactivity.
Feb 23 philogl GL ★★★★★ WebGL library – impressive.
Feb 20 ggplot2 Multiple ★★★★ Very interesting, if niche.
2010
Earlier MayaVi Desktop app Multiple ★★★★★ Heavy-duty scientific visualization tool
matplotlib library Too many to list ★★★★★ Inspired by “MATLAB”:Wikipedia:MATLAB. Good for publication quality output. Extremely sophisticated (and complex), looks better using this config file
Desktop app Multiple ★★★ Competent GTK app, hasn’t been updated since 2005
Desktop app Multiple ★★★★ Focuses on statistical computing, graphics are a competent add-on.

Miscellaneous

Date Link Type Formats Rating Notes
2013
Feb 1 Timeline JS N/A ★★★★★ A very nice, full-featured timeline solution.
dataset N/A ★★★★ A library for manipulating datasets client-side (goes hand in hand with Storyboard, which is great for async processing.)
2012
Dec 1 d3-cloud SVG ★★★ A D3-powered word cloud library that might come in handy.
2011
Older Desktop app Multiple ★★★★★ Can be used to programmatically do just about anything, including graphs
Flare Multi-purpose library Flash ★★★★★ Can do several kinds of interactive data plots and directed/undirected graphs
Flow Map desktop tool Multiple ★★★ Unique, as far as I know

Geodata

Link Type Formats Rating Notes
Tile server for integration with HTML, PNG ★★★★ Requires 2.5, PIL and whatnot

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