W5 Lecture Slides
W5 Lecture Slides
VISUALIZATION
Structure & Design
ETW3483 ULO2
The art of exploring your data. Rapidly visualizing trends and patterns on charts, generating
hypotheses, quickly testing them, then repeating again and again and again... generate many
promising leads that you can later explore in more depth.
“Far better an approximate answer to
the right question, which is often vague,
than an exact answer to the wrong
question, which can always be made
precise”
-- John Tukey
Strength of Evidence
versus
Quality of Question
-- Tamara Munzner
Visualization is about external cognition
How external resources outside the human brain can boost the
cognitive capabilities of the mind to process information visually.
1 2
⭐Data Visualization Catalogue ⭐SWD Chart Guide
“Visualization is crucial to understanding your
data and communicating your message to
others. It’s about more than just making it look
good. There’s a whole system and structure for
the way data is visualized.”
-- Dianne Cook,
Professor of Business Analytics, Monash University Australia
Effectively use
Derive insights preattentive attributes
to reduce time
to insights
Comprehended by
Correct representation of
human perception but
data but poor match to
poor match to the
human perception.
intended task/message.
How do we choose?
Satisfy Optimize
What is the chance of randomly making the viz design looks effective?
2
Viz Design
Structure & System
Visual analytics cycle.
Nested model of visualization design
and validation.
Visual Analysis Cycle
Start with questions (it takes time)
What: Find the right data source
Why: Pick the right type of visual
-- Tamara Munzner
What?
Data Abstraction
Import: Where do we get the data? Is the
dataset available to us?
Mutldimensional
table
Indexing based on (explicit)
multiple unique keys.
E.g. Order ID in “Orders”;
Region in “Returns”
E.g. Multiple sheets in an Excel file
Quantitative Qualitative Qualitative
Continuous/ (Ordinal) (Categorical)
Numerical Factor levels Nominal no levels
Quantitative
Ordinal
Categorical
Quiz: Global Superstore.xlsx
Can you identify the data types and dataset types?
the entire dataset is Real-time/ live data Such as ordered Deconstruct into Values wrap around
available on a local trickles in over the continuous/ two sequences back to a starting
computer all at course of the viz numerical data. pointing in opposite point (rather than
once. session. Real-time directions that meet continue to increase
changes take place Where there is a at a common zero indefinitely).
on the dataset. homogenous range point.
of values from a
finite minimum to a E.g. Elevator going up
In Tableau: In Tableau: or down. Mountain E.g. Clock. Hours of
when you use finite maximum.
when you use height (bathymetric) the day, day of the
dataset in “Extract” dataset in “Live” from sea level or week, month of the
format format above (below). year
4
-- Tamara Munzner
Why?
Task Abstraction
People need details but no Reframe domain-specific user's
trusted automatic solution task to a domain-general
exists (yet) abstract form (free of jargons)
01 02
Don’t just show data as is. Determine the right thing to show!
In Tableau, use calculated field (compute new
variable, simple change of data type, acquire more
data, create a new formula for complex transformation)
Action: Analyze: Derive (Example)
Transform GDP to % change of GDP