Data Visualization Lab

Ok, to be honest I didn't expect much from this lab.  As a math major and physics minor I spent huge chunks of time in college making visualizations to support my work.  This was particularly true in my physics labs.  I decided not to look at visualizations that I was used to working on in those classes and instead looked at some of the flow-charting options that were available. 

I have used MS Visio on a couple of occasions including recently in my Wicked Problem Project and I think it has some great features.  For example if you drag a balloon onto a page with an existing balloon Visio will snap the new object to a grid that aligns it vertically or horizontally with the existing item.  Really this snap feature is useful for drawing arrows between items, crossing out a balloon, etc.  Visio doesn't do a great job with pretty colorful charts.

For this lab I played around with three pieces of free flow-charting software.  Dia (http://live.gnome.org/Diav), Exploreatree (http://www.exploratree.org.uk/) and Gliffy (http://www.gliffy.com/).  Each had their own relative strengths and weaknesses.  I am already thinking that it would be cool to use one to set up a comparison chart.  Here it is, double click to take a closer look..

The winner in terms of functionality is Gliffy.  Presumably that is why it is the only one that you eventually have to pay for.  I actually used it Gliffy to make the chart.  Excel might have been better for this task but still pretty neat.

The real visualization I choose to make is a chart showing the normal/ideal flow of students through our math curriculum. 

Wow, talk about professional looking results in about 40 minutes.  My big ah ha moment with this came when I noticed that as elements are moved the software provides the coordinates of the object.  This allowed me to line them all up neatly.  I later discovered that it was possible to enter the coordinates to locate the object, as opposed to moving them into place pixel by pixel.  Not as nice as Visio's snap feature but very acceptable and better looking results in less time than Visio (at least the antiquated 2002 version that I have).  I will definitely be using this type of thing more often, especially as I continue to put together my website.