The Fifth Elephant 2015

To understand techniques to effectively visualise multi dimensional data to aid exploratory data analysis.

Outline

Even though exploring data visually is an integral part of the data analytic pipeline, we struggle to visually explore data once the number of dimensions go beyond three. This talk will focus on showcasing techniques to visually explore multi dimensional data (p > 3). The aim would be show examples of each of following techniques, potentially using one exemplar dataset.

Standard 2D/3D Approaches

• Aesthetics e.g. Color, Size, Shape
• Small Multiples e.g. Trellis / Facets
• Matrices Views e.g. SPLOMs
• 3D Scatterplot

Geometric Transformation Approaches

• Alternate Coordinates e.g. Parallel, Star
• Projections e.g. Dimensionality Reduction
• Tablelens

Glyph based Approaches

• Star glyphs
• Stick Figures

Pixel based Approaches

• Pixel bar charts
• Space filling curves

Stacked based Approaches

• Dimensional Stacking
• Hierarchical Axis
• Treemaps

The talk will also explore the role of interaction approaches to enhance our ability to visually explore the multi dimensional data.

Interactive Approaches

• Navigation - Pan, Zoom, Scale, Rotate
• Selection & Annotation
• Filtering - Highlighting, Brushing and Linking
• Layering
• Dynamic Queries

Speaker bio

Amit Kapoor is interested in learning and teaching the craft of telling visual stories with data. He uses storytelling and data visualization as tools for improving communication, persuasion and leadership. He conducts workshops and trainings for corporates, non-profits, colleges, and individuals at narrativeVIZ Consulting. He also teaches storytelling with data as an invited guest faculty in executive courses at IIM Bangalore and IIM Ahmedabad and design courses at NID, Bangalore.

His background is in strategy consulting in using data-driven stories to drive change across organizations and businesses. He has more than 12 years of management consulting experience, first with AT Kearney in India, then with Booz & Company in Europe and more recently for startups in Bangalore. He did his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Delhi and PGDM (MBA) from IIM, Ahmedabad. You can find more about him at amitkaps.com and tweet him at @amitkaps

Links

• https://fifthelephant.talkfunnel.com/2014/1098-crafting-visual-stories-with-data
• http://narrativeviz.com/playbook/multi_variable_visualization.html
• http://narrativeviz.com/playbook/interactiveR.html

Slides

http://www.slideshare.net/amitkaps/visualising-multi-dimensional-data-fifth-elephant-talk