In this section, we will spend time discussing the reasons why graph visualizations are so important, and highlight some of the underpinning technologies that are used in the different solutions that we will zoom into later on.
There are many reasons why the graph visualizations that we will discuss in this chapter, as well as the ones that we have previously seen and will show hereafter, are really nice. But for a limited number of reasons, they are more than nice: they matter greatly, and can have a massive impact on decisions being made, big or small. Let's discuss these.
From a very early age, we are taught to interact with data in a cognitive way—focused on analysis, not understanding. We are not supposed or encouraged to look at data in a creative, fun, or interesting way that induces insight. This, however, is now changing. There's an entirely new discipline emerging in the field of data...
