Andy Trice recently forwarded me this link: http://selection.datavisualization.ch/#, a great site which showcases the current state of many visualization toolkits & frameworks. Upon investigation though, it looks like this is a mix of JavaScript & ActionScript libraries, applications for creation of data visualizations and generic helper tools. Navigating through the list seemed a tricky for the average developer. As well, there was a bunch of libraries I knew about that I didn’t see listed. It seemed to me like it would be useful to recreate this list based not on whether I’m trying to create a map or chart for example, but rather based on development restrictions. If you’re building an HTML/JS application, ActionScript libraries are not very helpful. Likewise, if you’re building a Flash application, a JavaScript toolkit may or may not be helpful.
The list will obviously change as new libaries are developed and old ones go by the wayside. I’m sure I’ve missed off a few as well and so I apologize in advance. Let me know and I’ll update as I can. I will try to keep this up to date, but you know how these things go…
Before we go into the list though, first, I highly recommend taking a look at Andy Trice’s post: Data Visualization with Web Standards
It’s a beautiful article describing how you can build compelling data visualizations using only HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Libaries for JavaScript Development
- Arbor.js – (MIT license) Force-directed graph layout
- ArcGIS JavaScript API - High performance mapping/GIS applications
- amCharts – Charts, charts, charts
- Chroma.js – (GPL) Color conversions
- Cubism.js – (Apache) Time-series visualization, based on D3.js
- D3.js – (BSD) General visualization library
- Dance.js – (MIT) Visualization framework based on Backbone, Data.js & D3.js
- Data.js – (MIT) Not a visualization framework per se, but rather a data representation framework to facilitate visualization
- Envision.js – (MIT) Time series visualizations
- Google Chart Tools – (Google/Free) The name says it all – Charts
- Google Maps API – Google maps
- HightCharts – (Creative Commons & Commercial) Rich interactive charts
- InfoVis Toolkit – (MIT) Data visualization toolkit
- Kartograph – (AGPL) Render existing or custom Python-generated maps
- Kendo UI DataViz – (Commercial) Rich Cross-device data visualization
- Leaflet - (BSD) Lightweight map drawing libary
- MapQuest JavaScript API – MapQuest maps generation
- Miso Dataset – (MIT, GPL2) Libary for data transformation and management
- Modest Maps - (BSD) Tile-based maps
- Paper.js – (MIT) Vector graphics scripting
- Polymaps – (BSD) Tile-based maps
- Processing.js – (MIT) Drawing & data visualization library
- Protovis – (BSD) No longer under development – they recommend switching to D3.js
- Rafael – (MIT) Simplified vector graphics
- RGraph – (Free for non-commercial) Charts and custom widgets
- Rickshaw – (MIT) Interactive time series, based on D3.js
- Sencha Touch Charts - (Commercial) Rich interactive mobile-optimized charts
- Sigma.js – (MIT) Interactive & static graphs
- Tangle – (MIT) Build data reactive documents
- Timeline – (GPL) Timelines
Libraries for Flash Development
- amCharts – (Commercial) Flex & Flash charts & maps
- Axiis – (MIT) Flex-based data visualization framework
- Degrafa – (MIT) Declarative graphics framework, based on Flex 2/3
- Flare – (BSD) Data visualization library
- ILOG Elixir – (Commercial) Flex Data Visualization
- Kap Lab – (Commercial) Flex data visualization components
- Modest Maps - (BSD) Tile-based maps
- See my previous post on Flex mapping options for additional mapping options
Applications and Development Environments (Web & Desktop)
- ColorBrewer - Maps color scheme chooser
- Data Wrangler – Data cleaning & transformation
- GeoCommons – Tools & community to visualize GeoCommons datasets
- Gephi – Graph visualization platform
- Goolge Fusion Tables - Host, manage, collaborate on, visualize and publish data sets
- Google Refine - Data cleaning & transformation
- Impure/Quadrigram – Visual programming language for data visualization
- Many Eyes – Web application to publish & share data sets, create and share data visualizations
- MapBox – Full stack for creating, sharing & visualizing maps
- Mr. Data Converter – Web app that converts Excel data to web-friendly formats, including HTML, JSON & XML
- NodeBox – Generative art through procedural graphics
- Prefuse – Create rich data visualization with Java
- Processing – Programming language & environment for creating images, animations & interactions
- R – Software environment for statistical computing and graphical techniques
As far as Actionscript/Flex based data visualiazation frameworks – Axiis, Degrafa and Flare have not had any new development / updates in 2+ years and therefore appear to all be dead projects.