"A Picture with worth a thousand words" is a perhaps overused, but very good aphorism for explaining the importance of data visualization. A visualization can convey at a single glance what might take up to several paragraphs to communicate in text. In professional environments this is very important when business leaders, policy and law makers, or the general public need the main idea you are trying to convey in little time.
Data visualization is a very concise form of communication, and like all forms of communication it is vulnerable to misinterpretation, bias, overload, oversimplification, and many intricacies of context and culture.
Despite the daunting aspect of data visualization most people are already familiar with its basic concepts and can easily incorporate common knowledge about how to effectively communicate with visualizations.
Use the resources on this guide to find the best visualization type for your data. this guide contains resources and links that will help you understand your data, anticipate the needs of your viewers, choose a visualization that suits your data and audience and format it with effective color and styles.
Data visualization is a set of decisions about and processes for representing data and information in a graphical or pictorial format to help people understand, interpret and analyze the data. The main purpose of data visualization is to communicate complex data in an easy-to-understand format that can quickly reveal patterns, relationships, and insights that may be difficult to see from raw data alone.
Effective data visualization uses charts, graphs, maps, and other visual tools to present data in an appealing, intuitive, and interactive manner. Data visualization is widely used in a variety of fields, including business, science, engineering, healthcare, journalism, education, and many others, and effective communication through visualization is an important skill for professionals.
The importance of data visualization has grown significantly over the past few decades with the proliferation of data rich work and research environments. With data visualization tools and techniques, people can more easily extract meaning and insights from data, make better decisions and communicate their findings to others.
