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Google Visualization API Essentials
Google Visualization API Essentials

Google Visualization API Essentials: Make sense of your data: make it visual with the Google Visualization API

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Profile Icon Traci Lynn Ruthkoski
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€26.09 €28.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3 (1 Ratings)
eBook Apr 2013 252 pages 1st Edition
eBook
€26.09 €28.99
Paperback
€37.99
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Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m
Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Traci Lynn Ruthkoski
Arrow right icon
€26.09 €28.99
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3 (1 Ratings)
eBook Apr 2013 252 pages 1st Edition
eBook
€26.09 €28.99
Paperback
€37.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m
eBook
€26.09 €28.99
Paperback
€37.99
Subscription
Free Trial
Renews at €18.99p/m

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Google Visualization API Essentials

Chapter 2. Anatomy of a Visualization

There are multiple approaches with which a developer can work with the Visualization API, so it is helpful to give an architectural overview of various workflows. This chapter describes the common high-level architecture that underlies the most common methods of working with the Visualization API. In this chapter, we will also discuss the integration of various aspects of Visualization (Chart), Maps, and Fusion Tables. These three APIs often work together to allow developers varying in expertise to build complex, dynamic visualizations with relatively little effort. The final section of this chapter is dedicated to outlining the types of visualizations.

In this chapter we will cover the following:

  • API architecture overview

  • Interaction with other APIs

  • Visualization types

Common structure


At its core, the Visualization API acts as a bridge between a data source that contains data and an HTML page displaying the data. Regardless of platform, the Visualization API follows the same architecture as other Google API products. Methods to use for Google APIs consequently also follow the same general structure as APIs from other application providers such as Flickr or Facebook. For most APIs, including the Google APIs, the JavaScript namespace structure is as follows:

application.category.function(variables)

For example, to create a new pie chart with the Google Visualization API, the corresponding code would be as follows:

new google.visualization.PieChart(document.getElementById('visualization'));

For non-code based platforms, such as Spreadsheets and Fusion Tables, the user interface that encapsulates the Visualization API is designed to enhance the strengths of a particular tool set for a wide spectrum of users. For example, Fusion Tables is primarily focused on...

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...

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...

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Key benefits

  • Wrangle all sorts of data into a visual format, without being an expert programmer
  • Visualize new or existing spreadsheet data through charts, graphs, and maps
  • Full of diagrams, core concept explanations, best practice tips, and links to working book examples

Description

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.

Who is this book for?

This book will show you how create web-ready data visualizations using Google's infrastructure. Some HTML knowledge is the only requirement, although some JavaScript knowledge is also helpful.

What you will learn

  • Quickly launch a graph, chart, or map as an application, without the heavy-duty development environment
  • Create a variety of interactive graphs from spreadsheet or database data
  • Learn the Google API environment through Visualizations, and then apply the same concepts to other Google APIs
  • Give users control over data viewing with Interactive Chart Dashboards, or let them style the visualization themselves with Chart Editor
  • Discover Google Refine, a data-cleaning tool not just for visualization data
  • Use Google Fusion Tables as a Google Map data source
  • Embed a visualization in Google Spreadsheets using Apps Script API integration
  • Customize visualization colors, fonts, titles, and chart styles
  • Visualize your data over time with timeline and animation features

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Publication date : Apr 15, 2013
Length: 252 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849694377
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Product Details

Publication date : Apr 15, 2013
Length: 252 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849694377
Vendor :
Google
Category :
Languages :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
Tools and Setup Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Anatomy of a Visualization Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Spreadsheets, Charts, and Fusion Tables Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Basic Charts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Formatting Charts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Data Manipulation and Sources Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Dashboards, Controls, and Events Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Advanced Charts Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Publishing Options Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Steve Milligan May 31, 2015
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I was disappointed that much of the book simply references online examples. There was a few nuggets that I gained knowledge from.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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