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)

Categories of visualizations


Visualizations fall into two categories, static and interactive. Static visualizations are simply pictures that do not include controls or manipulation capabilities for the viewer. Conversely, an interactive visualization allows the viewer to manipulate data views, cause events, and otherwise have a dynamic interaction with the visualization.

Static

A static chart is a snapshot view of data. The viewer cannot manipulate the chart, other than viewing details through simple mouse-over windows. Chart types that generally fall into the Static category are as follows:

  • Line charts

  • Pie charts

  • Bar graphs

  • Candlestick charts

  • Geography maps and charts

  • Scatter plots

  • Basic tables

  • Tree maps

  • Organizational charts

However, note that Static charts may be transformed into Interactive charts by adding dashboard controls, which is a topic covered in detail in Chapter 7, Dashboards, Controls, and Events.

Interactive

Interactive charts allow the viewer to manipulate the display properties of the...