What is Data Visualization?

“There is magic in graphs. The profile of a curve reveals in a flash a whole situation — the life history of an epidemic, a panic, or an era of prosperity. The curve informs the mind, awakens the imagination, convinces.” – Henry D. Hubbard

Whenever you are given a lot of information, you may be converting it into tabular form to get an easy understanding. Data is essential only when you can get insights from it, and else it is redundant.

Which image gives you a better idea of the data represented? Most people would get a clear view of the second image. This is something data visualization is all about. It is merely the representation of data in graphical form.

If we have a small data set, understanding it in a tabular form is secure. But if the amount of data is enormous, assuming it becomes too complicated, hence a need to visualize it. By using representations like charts, graphs, or maps, you get an accessible way to understand the trends and patterns in the data.

It is a personal tendency to get attracted to colors and patterns rather than standard text. The human brain is quick to differentiate between green and red, or square and circle. Visual effects create a better impression on our minds.

For example, a process explained through animations is understood quicker compared to that described in a book. This is why data visualization is essential for people as well as businesses.

Today, companies believe in making data-driven decisions as it allows them to meet customer needs and develop best-in-class products.

Rising technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics have made data visualization more critical than ever.

Data visualization helps in converting trillions of rows of data generated into a form that is easy to understand, and through which we can find growth patterns, profit/loss, Return on Investment (ROI), total sales, and a lot more information that can be conveyed to stakeholders.

Read on to know why data visualization is essential, its types, data visualization tools, and why taking Tableau course training should be your next career move.

1. Importance of Data Visualization

Whether you are working in retail, banking and finance, marketing, sales, education, eCommerce, or even in governmental organizations, data visualization is crucial to communicate information clearly and efficiently. It is also one of the steps in the process of data science.

The data science process involves collecting data, processing, and modeling it, and after that, the data should be visualized to draw conclusions and make better decisions.

Data Visualization has witnessed continuous growth over the past few years. The global data visualization market which was worth USD 4.51 billion in 2017 is expected to reach USD 7.76 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.47 percent over the forecast period of 2018 to 2023.

The driving factor of data visualization is the fact that there is an increasing emphasis on measuring the performance of every operation to check the daily progress.

2. Here are some of the points depicting the importance of data visualization:

Traditional descriptive statistics are not capable of giving insights from the massive amount of data that we generate today. It is a data visualization that gives improved insights.

Going through spreadsheets or reports is a tedious task that delays decision-making. Data visualization allows for quicker decisions by presenting complex data through interactive dashboards and graphs.

Data visualization can also be used to identify areas that need improvement, understand which factors affect consumer behavior, predict sales volume, and more.

Companies today are focusing more on big data and data analysis-related projects, and data scientists take the help of data visualization to ensure that the process is giving desired results.
Data visualization also gives an increased understanding of the next steps to be taken to improve the processes.

3. Types of Data Visualizations

Data can be visualized in various ways:

• Charts
• Tables
• Maps
• Infographics
• Graphs
• Dashboards

These mentioned ways again have sub-types like line charts, pie charts, treemaps, histograms, bullet graphs, dot distribution maps, heat maps, population pyramids, Gantt charts, and more.

4. Data Visualization Tools

Data scientists can achieve data visualization through many powerful tools:

• Tableau
• Qlikview
• Plotly
• Power BI
• Datawrapper
• Highcharts
• Sisense

Tableau is one of the numerous robust data visualization tools which can prove to be the most secure and flexible end-to-end analytics platform for your data. Here are the products that it offers:

Tableau Prep – It can be used to quickly combine, shape, and clean data and make it ready for analysis

Tableau Desktop – This is where the analytics happen. There are interactive dashboards to help you uncover hidden insights.

Tableau Online – This analytics platform is cloud-based, and you can access it anywhere or share the dashboards with stakeholders or clients.

Tableau Server – It allows the organization to run the tool in a trusted environment where the data and analytics are secured, and employers have the freedom to explore data.

Now that you know why data visualization is essential get ready to learn it. If you continue beginning a career in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, or Big Data Analytics, then it is a must-have skill.

You can take a Tableau online course to gain hands-on experience with this powerful tool. Industry experts often make online courses, and they not only train you to design interactive dashboards but will also help you visualize data more effectively.