Choosing Tools to Visualize Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 88

are your goal, you can go open-source with Modest Maps or Polymaps, but
that requires more programming skills. You'll learn more about how to
use what's available in Chapter 8.
Survey your options
This isn't a comprehensive list of what you can use to visualize data, but
it should be enough to get you started. There's a lot to consider and play
with here. The tools you end up using largely depend on what you want to
accomplish, and there are always multiple ways to accomplish a single
task, even within the same software. Want to design static data graphics?
Maybe try R or Illustrator. Do you want to build an interactive tool for a
web application? Try JavaScript or Flash.
On FlowingData, I ran a poll that asked people what they mainly used to
analyze and visualize data. A little more than 1,000 people responded. The
results are shown in Figure 3-29.
FIGurE 3-29 What FlowingData readers use to analyze and visualize data