You're struggling to make sense of your data. How can you find the right visualization tool?

1 The importance of data visualization

Data visualization is the process of transforming data into graphical forms, such as charts, maps, diagrams, or dashboards. It can help you to explore, analyze, and present your data in a way that reveals patterns, trends, relationships, and insights. Data visualization can also help you to engage your audience, tell a story, and make an impact with your data. For urban planners, data visualization can be a powerful tool to showcase your projects, illustrate your scenarios, and support your recommendations.

2 The challenges of data visualization

Data visualization is not always easy or straightforward and you may face some common challenges. Choosing the right type of visualization for your data and purpose is essential. This could be a bar chart, a pie chart, a line chart, a map, or something else. Additionally, designing the visualization to be clear, accurate, and appealing is important; this includes selecting the right colors, fonts, labels, legends, and scales. You must also find the right tool to create your visualization. This could be software, a platform, or an application. Lastly, learning how to use your tool effectively and efficiently is necessary; this includes importing, manipulating, and exporting your data with your tool.

3 The steps to find the right tool

In order to address these challenges, you need to find the right tool for your data visualization needs. To do this, you must first define your data and goal; what kind of data do you have, what format is it in, and what do you want to show or communicate with your data? Afterwards, take some time to research the available options; their features, benefits, and limitations, as well as their cost, accessibility, usability, and compatibility. Then evaluate the suitability and feasibility of each tool; how well does each tool match your data and goal? How easy or hard is it to use? And how much time and resources do you need to invest in each tool? Finally, test and experiment with each tool before making a final decision; try out the tool, get feedback from other users of the tool, and improve your skills with the tool.

4 The examples of tools

Urban planners have a variety of tools available for data visualization. For example, Excel is a widely used spreadsheet program that can help organize, analyze, and visualize data with charts and graphs. It can also be used to create maps with geographic data using the 3D Maps feature or the Power Map add-in. Tableau is a popular data visualization software that helps create interactive and dynamic dashboards and reports. It can connect to various data sources, as well as create maps with spatial data using the built-in mapping features or the Mapbox integration. Additionally, QGIS is a free and open source geographic information system (GIS) that can help create and edit spatial data and maps. It can also be used for various spatial analysis and modeling tasks, such as buffering, overlaying, and interpolating. Moreover, it can create cartographic and thematic maps using the Print Layout and Atlas tools.

5 The tips and resources

If you’re looking for the right tool for your data visualization needs, here are some tips and resources to help you out. Begin by asking yourself a simple and clear question: what do you want to know or show with your data? Doing this will help you narrow down your options and focus on your goal. You can also use the data visualization catalog, which is a website that helps you choose the right type of visualization for your data and purpose. Additionally, learning from experts such as Edward Tufte, Nathan Yau, and Andy Kirk through books, blogs, podcasts, and courses can provide valuable insight into the principles and practices of data visualization. Lastly, seeking feedback and inspiration from online communities and platforms like the Data Visualization Society, the Tableau Public Gallery, the QGIS Community, or the Reddit DataIsBeautiful subreddit can be beneficial in furthering your knowledge.