10 Best Websites: Data Visualization
I’ve been trolling the web for awhile searching for the best data visualization sites. These are some of my favorites. Many of them also contain links to other excellent resource sites.
Stephen Few is the guru of practical data visualization. The author of (3) recent books on the topic, Show Me The Numbers (2004), Information Dashboard Design (2006) and Now You See It (2009), Stephen is a relentless critic of bad data visualization and an energetic advocate for good data visualization. Stephen is also in inventor of the bullet graph.
www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/newet
Edward Tufte’s award-winning books are seminal works on data visualization technique. They also pass for artwork in my book. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2001), Envisioning Information (1990) and Beautiful Evidence (2006) are my three favorites. An artist, teacher, historian of data visualization, Mr. Tufte’s influence in the field is profound. He invented the concept of “Sparklines;” which are tiny information graphics that are starting to pop-up everywhere.
Nathan Yau has created a wonderful blog full of insight and information on visual analytics. It’s a great source for ideas and inspiration. Nathan is a very active blogger and his site is one of my very favorite resources, providing excellent example material. Checkout his service for tracking personal information called your.flowingdata.
http://coolinfographics.blogspot.com
Randy Krum is a marketing and product development professional with a great blog on good Info graphics. Thought-provoking examples are provided with good links.
Chandoo is the creator of “The pointy haired dilbert” blog. He posts a ton of practical Excel tricks and frequently provides effective charting tips.
Barry Ritholtz is the provider of this “hard core” data visualization blog. Barry aggregates lots of interesting data visualizations from media outlets which is a great way to get ideas for your own visualizations.
Nicolas Rapp is the Art Director for the Associated Press Interactive Design & Graphics Department which creates and distributes graphics and interactive visualizations for the Associated Press to thousands of Newspapers worldwide. His blog aggregates some of the most interesting and creative info graphics that I’ve seen anywhere on the web.
Hubert Lee has created a huge repository of example dashboards and data visualizations. Good and bad. If you want to survey the landscape of dashboard design, this is a very good place to go. Many of the examples are very bad. I don’t vouch for the quality. Some are excellent.
www.ipo-dashboards.com/wordpress/
Christian Chabot is the CEO of Tableau Software. His new blog demonstrates the value of visual analytics and the web, providing examples of interactive visual analytics which the information consumer can manipulate. Tableau is my favorite visual analytic tool.
http://diuf.unifr.ch/people/bertinie/visuale/
Enrico Bertini provides a European view of data visualization. His blog is a great clearinghouse of information on data visualization. Interesting posts on technique are provided along with other thoughtful articles.
If you need help getting started with your own data visualizations Interworks Inc. can help.
