Data Visualization: What It is and Why is It Important?

If you’re familiar with data analysis, then you must be aware of the term data visualization.

Data visualization is a key part of the successful analysis of data. We’ll explain how it is used and discuss each of the different types of visualizations. But first, let’s make sure that we all understand what it is and why it’s important.

What Is Data Visualization?

Representation of data in a graphic, chart, or other visual formats is known as data visualization. Data visualization communicates the relationship between data and images and, as a result, makes it easier to identify trends and patterns.

With the exponential rise of the volume of big data, we need to analyze large batches of data. This is where machine learning comes into play. Machine learning makes it easier to perform analyzes, such as predictive analysis, which can then serve as useful visualizations.

However, data visualization is not only important for data scientists and data analysts. It is necessary to comprehend data in any field. Whether you’re working in finance, communications, infrastructure, architecture, or anything else, data needs to be visualized. The fact highlights the importance of data visualization. Without it, data is not understandable.

Why Is Data Visualization Important?

We need data visualization because a visual overview of the information makes it easier
to recognize patterns and trends. Compare this to looking at thousands of rows on a spreadsheet and you will get the point.

Because data analysis aims to gain insight, data is far more meaningful when visualized. Even if a data analyst can draw insights from data without visualization, it will be more challenging to communicate the meaning without visualization. Charts and graphs make it easier to communicate data results even though you can recognize trends without them.

Students are often taught in undergraduate business schools how important it is to present the visualization of data findings. It can be challenging for the public to understand the true significance of the results without a visual depiction of the insights. Rattling off numbers to your boss won’t convince them why they should care about the results. But, showing them a graph of how much money the findings could save/make is sure to get their attention.

Importance of Data Visualization

Through simulation, humans can more readily understand knowledge. A data visualization services provider agency tends to relay a narrative to decision-makers. This allows them to respond quicker than if the evidence is delivered as records. Widgets enable decision-makers to engage with the data and to explore the questions that they can pose to contribute to more significant insights. Such use cases that highlight the significance of data visualization are as follows: They:

  • Help decision-makers appreciate the meaning of market data to assess management decisions;
  • Lead the target market to concentrate on company trends to find places where the action is required;
  • Handle vast volumes of data in a pictorial way to include a rundown of trends hidden in the data, providing observations, and the tale behind the data to achieve a business target;
  • Visualize market details to monitor development and turn patterns into company plans by making sense of the knowledge you have;
  • Reveal previously overlooked crucial points regarding data sources to support policymaking in assembling information and data processing.

How Data Visualization Works

Data visualization includes juggling loads of details that are translated by widgets to usable graphics. To achieve this, we need the right technical resources to run various forms of data sources, such as archives, web API data, database-managed records, and others.

Organizations use a particular method, or platform, to suit all their needs for visualizing the data. The platform would at least help with the following:

  • Dynamic graphic development,
  • Scalable access to data sources,
  • Merging data sources,
  • Automated data updates,
  • Exchanging visuals with others,
  • Safe access to data sources, and
  • Exporting widgets.

Needless to say, these platforms allow you to make the most of your data visuals and also save business time.

Type of Charts for Data Visualization

Now that we can grasp how to utilize data visualization, let’s add the different kinds of data visualization to their applications. Several resources are available to help generate visualizations of gathered data. Some are more manual, and some are automatic, but they will encourage you to create some of the following kinds of visualizations any way.

Line Chart

A line diagram reflects changes over time. The x-axis is typically time and the y-axis is volume. So, this could demonstrate the year-long revenues of a business broken down by month, or how many units a manufacturer produced each day over the past week.

Area Chart

An area map is an extension of a line map where the field beneath the line is filled in to illustrate its purpose. The color fill will be somewhat translucent for the region under each side, such that similar areas can be discerned.

Bar Chart

A bar chart displays changes over time too. But, if more than one variable appears, a bar chart will make it easy to evaluate the data for each variable at any time. For example, a bar chart might compare this year’s sales to last year’s sales.

Histogram

A histogram appears like a bar chart. But, over time, it does calculate frequency rather than patterns. A histogram’s x-axis lists the variable’s “bins,” or intervals, and the y-axis is frequency, and each bar reflects the bin’s frequency. For example, you may be able to quantify the frequencies of each reaction to a survey query. The response will be: “unsatisfactory,” “good,” and “satisfactory.”

Scatter Plot

Use the scatter plots to identify a similar point on a scatter plot implies “if x = this, then y is equal to this.” Hence, there is a connection between them if the points move in either direction (e.g. up to the left, down to the right). If the story is dispersed without any theme at all, the variables do not influence each other.

Bubble Chart

A bubble chart, or map, is an approximation of a scatter plot. In it, each point is represented as a bubble whose area, in addition to putting it on the axes, has value. The limits on the sizes of bubbles are a pain point correlated with bubble maps due to the small room inside the axes. But, not all data in this form of visualization can be effective.

Pie Chart

The best way to explain percentages is a pie chart. This is true because it displays each item as part of a whole. If the data shows a percentage breakdown, a pie chart simply depicts the components in the correct proportions.

Gauge

The difference between the cycles can be shown with a scale. This can be viewed as a circular clock-like scale or a liquid thermometer-like tube-style monitor. Several gauges can be shown next to one another to display the discrepancy between different periods.

Map

Much of the data handled in businesses has an aspect of the position, which makes it simple to explain on a map. An example of chart analysis is to show the number of transactions made by consumers in each U.S. state. Any state will be shaded in this scenario, and states with fewer sales would be a lighter hue. And states with more transactions would be darker colors. Location knowledge may often be beneficial for recognizing company leadership, allowing the use of such essential data visualization.

Heat Map

A heat map is essentially a vector and is color-coded. A formula is used to color every matrix cell in shadow to reflect the relative importance or risk of the cell. The heat map colors typically vary from green to red; green is a stronger option, and red is bad. This method of visualization is useful since colors can be translated more easily than numbers.

Final Words

We hope you enjoyed reading this post, please feel free to share this on your social media handles. Also, in case you have any Data Visualization requirements or project, please feel free to get in touch with us at Loginworks Softwares. Happy reading!

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