Data visualization is becoming increasingly important with “Big Data”. Big data is a broad term for describing large and complex data wherein traditional data-processing application software are inadequate. Due to the way that we process information, visualizations make it easier for us to digest large amounts of data. Based on a survey conducted by the Journal of Applied Research on the tools and challenges of the visualization of big data, visualizing big data has multiple benefits as shown in Table 1.
V. Sucharitha, S.R. Subash and P. Prakash , Visualization of Big Data: Its Tools and Challenges, International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 9(18), 2014, pp. 5277-5290.
When it comes to visualizing big data, we face several problems. One of those problems is visual noise. Depending on the dataset being shown, users typically have a hard time seeing the objects that are relative to one another. When visualized, users find it difficult to separate these objects, which means we have to make sure that we only display the necessary data.
Another problem that comes with visualizing data is information loss. Often when we try to get rid of the visual noise, we usually reduce the amount of data being shown. By doing this, some information is lost.
With these assumptions we can then begin to look for solutions.
To avoid visual noise, one solution is to have an expert analyze the data being processed. Having an expert study the data can help isolate the data that needs visualization. This will make it easier to visualize and organize the data in a way where audiences can easily separate and relate certain objects in the visualization. This will also ensure that necessary data is being displayed and that no information is loss in the visualization.
Lastly, big data visualization also requires high-performance processing power. To solve this problem, a more powerful machine is needed in order to process and visualize the data quicker, but as technology advances, more solutions are being presented. One of those solutions is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
With the integration of AI in data visualization software, many of the problems that big data visualization faces today are being solved. For example, AI can learn and suggest the best ways to visualize a dataset, and separate the data in a way where visualization can be sped up. This solves the problem of needing an expert to analyze and organize the data for visualization. AI can also provide us with predictive analysis, which can improve decision-making and can display more meaningful results.
In this era of big data visualization, we at Global Advantage Consulting Group are hoping to solve most of the problems that data visualization is facing today. We are currently developing our own data visualization tool called Dancing Data that will allow you to not only visualize your data, but also to animate time series data. In the near future we are also looking to integrate AI into Dancing Data to provide you with features such as predictive analysis and visualization recommendations.
