Book Image

Google Visualization API Essentials

By : Traci Lynn Ruthkoski
Book Image

Google Visualization API Essentials

By: Traci Lynn Ruthkoski

Overview of this book

There's a lot of data in our world, and visual representations are often the best method of making sense of it all. Yet, it should not take an army of programmers and analysts to create visualizations in order to make data useful. The Google Visualization API is accessible to novice and advanced programmers alike, making data useful to more people."Google Visualization API Essentials" will show you how to create interactive data displays with very little code. The API, combined with Google Spreadsheets and Fusion Tables, is a complete system, from data management to analytical displays. Not only is it simple to learn, but the Google Visualization API can also be viewed as a first step to learning additional Google APIs."Google Visualization API Essentials" uses both methodology overviews and hands-on examples with real data to introduce chart and graph creation on the Google platform. Topics are presented from various aspects, including Google Spreadsheets and Fusion Tables, and Graphic User Interfaces. An overview of the various API development environments available to developers is also covered. Basic and advanced charts, data source connectivity, style formatting, and publishing options are also explored in depth."Google Visualization API Essentials" brings the arsenal of Google Visualizations into the web developer toolkit.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Summary


The purpose of this chapter was to give an overview of several architectures available for creating chart visualizations. It must be understood that the architectures presented here are by no means exclusive to the options available to developers working within the Google API framework or even with the Visualization API. Rather it is more useful to view the preceding overview as of the most common architectures that can be used as a starting point for chart development. The integration capabilities are provided by Google enable creativity, but can also be limiting due to confusion of how and when to use combinations of methods. Missed opportunities to visualize data creatively can be common when there is a lack of understanding that two or more methods may need to be incorporated in order to provide the desired solution.

All visualizations, regardless of the tools used to create them, follow the same methodology. This methodology is inclusive of naming hierarchy as well as application...