Which data visualization tool/software to use?

Data science is growing at an exponential rate and data visualization most of the time the tail end of it which seeks to tell a story. We all know the old adage, "A picture is worth a 1000 words". We can take this to the next level and say that "A visualization is worth a 1000 tables". Power data visualizations not only tell a story but also enable its users who are generally directors or C-level executives to make decisions and understand more about the business.

In this post, lets look at the tools and softwares that are available in the market and how you can use them

1. Tableau

Tableau has been the industry leader in the data visualization space and it is known for its ease of use. Tableau was acquired by Salesforce in 2019. It has a clean and intuitive user interface and has a relatively quick learning curve. You can try it out for free here

2. Power BI

Power BI is another tool that is taking over the data visualization market by storm with its highly competitive pricing. Power BI was developed by Microsoft and hence it did not take much time for it capture a huge market. It is very easy to use and aims to help users develop power visualization with minimum coding. You can try it out for free here

3. R (GGPlot)

Data visualization is not only used for Business Intelligence(BI) purposes but is also increasingly being used by scientists all over the world. R is a statistical programming language and we see a trend in data science where scientists and statisticians are generating power data visualizations using packages like ggplot and plotly. In order to come up with a visualization in R, you need to have R installed. If you want to publish your visualization on the web, you would need R Shiny - which means you need to either setup an R server or use a community server. More details can be found here

4. D3Js

D3Js is the most popular javascript library that allows users to create fantastic visualizations. The best part that we like about D3Js is that you can develop really powerful and interactive visualizations in a single HTML file. Development of D3Js visualization can take some time as you would need someone who has good javascript skills however once it is developed, you can just share the HTML file or host it on any server for your users to access. You can find inspirations here

Another good website that we recommend for data visualization is https://flowingdata.com/

There are a lot of other data visualization tools and frameworks as well but the above are the most popular once.

If you are looking to derive value from your data, or want to visualize your data to tell your story, feel free to reach out to us at contact@yajur.tech and our representative will get back with you.