Archive for the AnyChart Charting Component

How to Choose Chart/Graph Type for Seeing Data Over Time

March 13th, 2012 by Margaret Skomorokh

We continue publishing tips for choosing between different types of charts. Last time we were talking about comparing data, and today we will focus on seeing data over time.

The most popular and adequate ways to visualize time-based data are bar graphs and line graphs. What is the difference between them? First, large sets of data are better visualized via line graphs since line graphs are good in showing trends, and bar graphs in this case just look overcomplicated. Second, bar graphs emphasize the magnitude of changes, so they are an excellent way to demonstrate data with sharp fluctuations.

Example 1.

The following graph shows the number of deaths per year in Cambodia between 1960 and 1990 according to UN estimates:

As you can see, there was a sharp increase of mortality in 1975-1980, which is almost the same period when Cambodia was under the Pol Pot regime (1975-1979). Our graph clearly shows the scale of the genocide this regime is responsible for.

Example 2.

And now we are going to demonstrate demographic data about Cambodia for a longer period: since 1950 and including modernity. A bar graph is not the best choice in this situation. Instead, we will use a line graph:

This visualization still shows the increase of mortality in 1975 quite well and at the same time comprehensively represents the long-term trend.

Example 3.

Sometimes a value we are interested in changes discreetly, i.e. stays constant between change points. For example, stamp prices change only in the rare moments when new stamps with new denominations are emitted. In this case we can choose a bar graph since it represents data discreetly, but what if our data covers a long period of time? A bar graph would be difficult to read, but a line graph should not be used either because to connect two points with a line would mean to distort the real picture.

Fortunately, there is one useful variation of line graphs – step line graphs. To connect data points they use only vertical and horizontal segments instead of straight lines. Here is such a graph demonstrating the US Postal Service prices for first class stamps from 1975 to 2008:

Step line graphs combine advantages of bar and line charts, being good at both showing trends and making the magnitude of changes explicit. And by omitting change points you can focus on the periods when the represented value is constant:

See also: Creating Step Line Chart with AnyChart and Line, Spline, Step Line Charts Gallery

That is all for today, more tips are coming soon.

Check the updated article on how to choose chart/graph type for seeing data over time published within the framework of the new 7-part Choose Chart Type feature on our blog.

AnyChart 6.0.8 Released

February 28th, 2012 by Margaret Skomorokh

AnyChart 6.0.8 is available for download. We keep improving our HTML5 engine and fixing the bugs discovered there. We would also like to draw your attention to Vertical and Horizontal Gauges, this instrument being absolutely necessary if you want to show Key Performance Indicators and Bullet Graphs in Scorecards and Dashboards. As for basic chart types, we have added a couple of useful features, without which it is sometimes very difficult to go.

HTML5 engine now supports:

  • Vertical and Horizontal Gauges
  • the TreeMap plot
  • Aqua styles for 2D Pie and 2D Doughnut chart types
  • 3D Pie and 3D Doughnut chart types

New labels features:

Version history: http://6.anychart.com/products/anychart7/history/
Trial download: https://www.anychart.com/download/

Meteomedia AG Chooses AnyChart to Visualize Weather Forecasts

February 20th, 2012 by Margaret Skomorokh

Today we are glad to publish a new success story – about AnyChart and Meteomedia AG.

logo_meteomediaMeteomedia, founded in 1990, is one of the leading weather services in Europe operating its own private weather measurement network and providing detailed data for various weather-dependent industries. The company successfully runs Energy Trading Portal designed for gas and electricity traders as well as energy meteorologists, online Severe Weather Centers in different countries, and other weather portals.

The challenge was to:

  • To visualize complex long-range weather forecasts and weather maps for Energy Trading Portal, making it possible for users to compare at a glance different weather models.
  • To give users the opportunity to switch quickly between different locations, time ranges, and other parameters.
  • To ensure that charts will be easy updatable since new forecast data is added daily or even hourly.

Solution:

  • AnyChart solution was used to implement cross-browser and cross-platform animated dashboards visualizing various weather forecasts.
  • AnyChart’s interactivity options and ample customization opportunities allowed creating flexible and quickly customizable charts and maps.
  • Due to simple XML interface, AnyChart visualizations are very easy to update both manually and via any server-side scripts.

When it comes to making viable forecasts concerning energy price risk and energy demand, weather data is crucial. Temperatures are the key parameter in consumption forecasting. At the same time, the rising energy supply resulting from the availability of renewable energy is increasingly impacting electricity prices, so wind and solar power predictions are also needed. Energy traders are interested both in namely short-term prognoses for the spot market and long-term prognoses for the futures market. And there is no doubt that all these complex data should be clearly and comprehensively visualized.

Meteomedia Energy Trading Portal offers advanced customizable charts and maps of different types (line, range area, bar, and color-coded maps) created via AnyChart engine. They are conveniently grouped in dashboards to provide users with the opportunity to compare various forecasts, e.g. related to the same country. It is possible to add and delete charts as well as to select for each of them a particular time range, location, forecast type, and some other parameters.

The following data is visualized in Meteomedia Energy Trading Portal using AnyChart Charts and Maps:

  • Overview charts and ensemble evaluations: air temperature at 2m height, temperature 850 hPa level, 24h-precipitation sum, wind speed mean, probability of general weather situation.
  • Map of Europe, climate comparison: temperature deviation in comparison with longtime mean.
  • Daily temperatures mean, solar power prediction, wind power prediction, wind power model comparison, precipitation totals.

Alongside with that, AnyChart was used to visualize forecasts for online Severe Weather Centers, which are available to the general public: Temperatures, Precipitation, Sunshine duration, Wind, Wind direction, and Humidity.

Take a look at the sample dashboard from the Energy Trading Portal (click it to view a larger image):

This case clearly shows that AnyChart solution has application in weather forecasting industry and can be succesfully used in other systems.

You can enjoy the full success story here: Meteomedia AG Chooses AnyChart To Visualize Weather Forecasts >>

Or see other AnyChart Customers Success Stories.

How to Choose Chart/Graph Type for Comparing Data

January 27th, 2012 by Margaret Skomorokh

Today we start publishing basic tips for choosing between different types of graphs. Visualization can be a very powerful and convincing instrument to present your data – the only thing needed is to use it correctly. One should always clearly understand what exactly he or she wants to show and what is the best way to do it.

There are three main situations when visualizations are made: comparing data, seeing data over time, and breaking data into parts, plus some mixed cases. We will consider them one by one and figure out what type of graphs fits each case. The first post will be about comparing data.

Example 1.
The most common tool for comparing data are bar graphs. For example, here is an AnyChart visualization showing men unemployment rate in the Nordic countries:

As you can see, the difference in the height of bars represents the difference between values pretty clearly. Note that if you need to put long text labels, it is better to make a horizontal bar graph since the vertical axis gives more space for labeling.

See also our documentation and gallery: Creating Bar/Column Chart with AnyChart, Bar/Column Charts Gallery

Example 2.
What if we want to show not only men but also women unemployment rate? Now we have two sets of data for each country, and to distinguish them, we need to use different colors:

Such graphs are sometimes called double bar graphs. They can also be horizontal.

Example 3.
When one needs to represent the correlation between two related values (which can be viewed as a kind of comparison too), a scatter graph is used. Take a look at a chart showing the correlation between religiosity index and suicide rate in different countries:

The position of each point on the horizontal and vertical axes is determined by suicide rate and religiosity index correspondingly. Here, like in the previous case, we also have two sets of data for each country, but the countries themselves are no longer at focuse. The things we want to compare are the number of suicides and religiosity index in general.

While bar charts are good for emphasizing the difference between individual entities, scatter graphs are good for generalizing. The information about particular countries is hardly readable from our graph, but it perfectly shows that more religious countries tend to have lower suicide rates: the points group around an imaginary line that falls down from left to right (sometimes called line of best fit, or trend line). It is considered that the closer the points are to this line, the stronger the correlation is.

See also: Creating Scatter Chart with AnyChart, Scatter Charts Gallery

Check the updated article on how to choose chart/graph type for comparing data published within the framework of the new 7-part Choose Chart Type feature on our blog.

IDS Chooses AnyChart for Its Reporting and Analysis Systems

November 21st, 2011 by Margaret Skomorokh

We are happy to publish a new success story, this time about AnyChart and Independent Data Services (IDS) – a company from the upstream oil and gas industry.

IDS, founded in 1995, is the world’s largest provider of web-based reporting and analysis services to the upstream oil and gas industry. IDS’ latest release — DataNet2 — makes full use of Web 2.0-compliant technologies and WITSML feeds to capture and deliver data via the web to unlimited users. The DataNet2 suite of products includes VisNet — a back-end query engine which extracts knowledge from every part of the DataNet2 system.

The challenge was:

  • To visualize the data returned by VisNet (KPI’s, benchmarks) and create configurable and interactive charts.
  • To ensure that all visualizations would be customizable, matching IDS’ high standards.
  • To implement a variety of charts.

AnyChart’s charting technology was used to generate visualizations for VisNet because:

  • The component allows for the creation of advanced and good-looking animated charts.
  • AnyChart is very flexible and provides a lot of features, which made it a good choice for IDS’ project.
  • The AnyChart library includes a wide range of charts which is constantly growing. Currently VisNet supports Bar, Column, Pie, Line, and Scatter graphs, but more will be added.

You can enjoy the success story here:

logo_ids IDS
IDS Chooses AnyChart for Its Reporting and Analysis Systems >>

Other stories can be found here: https://www.anychart.com/company/success_stories.php

AnyChart 6.0.5 Released

November 14th, 2011 by Timothy Loginov

Today we are glad to announce the release of AnyChart 6.0.5. We are constantly improving the HTML5 engine, and soon it will become fully functional. Besides that, we keep adding new features and refining various aspects of AnyChart, including the smallest details (which, as we believe, are never insignificant) to make it more and more convenient to use.

In AnyChart 6.0.5 we have introduced a number of important improvements:

Important note: Because of the bug in Flash Player 11.0.1.152 Radar and Polar charts are displayed incorrectly. If you use any of 5.x or 6.x AnyChart versions with this version of Flash Player, please, switch either to AnyChart 6.0.5 or to Flash Player 11.1.102.55 (or later).

For more bug fixes and version history, see: http://anychart7.com/products/anychart/history/
Trial download is available at: https://www.anychart.com/download/

Please, feel free to contact us if any questions arise. We appreciate our clients and work hard to anticipate their needs and keep pace with the latest demands of the industry, making our charts even more flexible and attractive.

Building a Large Chart Ecosystem with AnyChart and Native XML Databases

September 22nd, 2011 by Timothy Loginov

Today we are glad to present you a detailed case study: Building a Large Chart Ecosystem with AnyChart and Native XML Databases by Dan McCreary.

Dan McCreary is an enterprise metadata strategy architect who has worked in the technology field for over 17 years. His career has taken him through the fields of solid state physics, computer chip design, supercomputing, working with Steve Jobs and NeXT Computer, and founding his own consulting firm — Integrity Solutions, which is now part of the WAM!NET Professional Services division. In the fall of 2000, Dan McCreary in collaboration with several other technology and marketing professionals formed Dan McCreary and Associates — a technology strategy development consulting firm specializing in helping firms align their business and technology strategies by effectively managing their metadata.

Executive Summary

The AnyChart system, when used within a native XML database, is ideal for building and maintaining a very large number of charts that can be quickly managed by non-programmers. Central to the AnyChart product is the declarative nature of XML files and the focus on “what” should be displayed, but not “how” the charts are rendered. This allows the target platform to change from Flash to HTML5 (currently in Beta) without any changes by the chart authoring system. AnyChart’s domain specific language for chart specification can also be easily extended for business specific tasks. This approach has saved our customers tens of thousands of dollars building interactive dashboards as well as much higher quality and consistency of the final products.

This document shows how functions such as validation, search, quality, consistency, extensibility, and agility can be easily maintained using standardized, cross-platform XQuery libraries. This is just one example of how NoSQL (not only SQL) systems are ideal for managing semi-structured data.

Background

There are many charting software packages that are designed to create a simple bar charts or line charts on the web. But most of these systems break down once you need to create multiple charts for multiple users in multiple business units and yet still retain consistency and quality across hundreds or even thousands of charts. Our experience is that AnyChart, when combined with native XML databases, can allow large complex charting systems to be easily maintained by non-programmers.

By using AnyChart system and native XML databases, we have created a large complex ecosystem where even very large numbers of charts can be quickly and easily managed. The secret is to combine the declarative nature of AnyChart XML files with a native XML database that can easily query all the charts in use based on a variety of search parameters.

Unlike many charting software systems that provide Java, .Net, JSON or JavaScript interfaces, the core chart format in AnyChart is an XML file. Unlike imperative or procedural code, XML can be queried with XQuery just like a relational database can be queried with SQL. XML files have the benefit of being standardized as well as having a very large set of tools to test compliance to business rules. For example, unlike JSON files, XML files can be validated against XPath expression tests, XML Schemas as well as be check for business rule compliance using tools such as Schematron and XQuery reports.

This case study will show that when combined with a native XML database, AnyChart systems can be very easy to manage by non-programmers.

Read more »

ISFB Chooses AnyChart for School Monitoring Solution

September 17th, 2011 by Margaret Skomorokh

We are glad to introduce a new success story – about AnyChart and Information Systems for Business (ISFB).

ISFB is a company that develops various information system based on thin client technology, using Drupal as a platform.

Particularly, ISFB created a system that allows monitoring of schools’ readiness for the academic year — the project was implemented for the Ministry of Education of the Komi Republic (Russian Federation). Such monitoring is held each year by a commission that evaluates whether schools match state standards, and in 2011 it was decided to make the results open to public at http://school.rkomi.ru/

The challenge was:

  • To plot interactive pie charts and stacked bars showing schools’ readiness in different aspects.
  • To create charts matching the design of the site and clear for the general public.
  • To make an easy updatable visualization so that new data about schools could be added on-the-fly.

AnyChart was chosen as a solution because:

  • The component supports a vide variety of charts types and different interactivity options.
  • Due to XML interface, it is easy to draw and update charts. XML data files can be created both manually and using server side scripts.
  • AnyChart is a designer friendly component: it allows easy chart configuration, and provides a convenient way of setting colors for any elements of charts.

You can enjoy the success story here:

logo_auditr IFSB
ISFB Chooses AnyChart for School Monitoring Solution >>

Other stories can be found at: https://www.anychart.com/company/success_stories.php

AnyChart 6.0.1 Update

September 12th, 2011 by Timothy Loginov

AnyChart 6.0.1 is published and live on our site, we are working hard on HTML5 engine, and this week the following changes have been made:

  • Funnel chart type
  • Custom attributes feature

Version history: http://6.anychart.com/products/anychart7/history/
Trial download: https://www.anychart.com/download/

AnyChart 6.0 with HTML5 Support Available

September 5th, 2011 by Margaret Skomorokh

We are glad to announce the release of AnyChart 6.0 containing an HTML5 (SVG based) version of our component.

Our aim is to make the HTML5 version a complete substitution for the Flash version as well as to make the switch to HTML5 as easy as possible. Another thing that we see as a highest priority is the compatibility of our component with different browsers and platforms.

So key features of the HTML5 version are the following:

  • HTML5 charts are configured exactly the same way as Flash ones – in XML.
  • The names of API methods are the same.
  • The HTML5 version is designed to work in all up-to-date versions of popular desktop browsers, such as Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera.
  • It is also compatible with popular browsers for the mobile platforms Android (2.2+) and iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

Though we have fully integrated the HTML5 version with our documentation as well as with the redistributable package, HTML5 support is still in the beta phase. Not all chart types and not all features are available for the moment, and we do not yet guarantee that all your charts in SVG version will look and work exactly like they do in Flash version.

However, we are going to cover all Flash version features by the HTML5 engine by the end of the year, and you will be able to upgrade your charts without any significant changes in your web sites and applications.

You can see how our HTML5 engine works in the examples from the Documentation and Gallery sections – just select an HTML5 tab when you view a chart. In case the features required to display a certain sample are not ready yet, you will see a relevant message.

To review an instruction on implementation, see HTML5 Migration Guide tutorial.

We are working hard to make the HTML5 version work exactly like the Flash version, and AnyChart will be updated each 1 or 2 weeks this fall. Check our web site or subscribe to our blog RSS or Twitter to be always aware of the latest changes.

Thank you once again for the interest in AnyChart – Modern Data Visualization Solution.

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