Part 2. Complex data visualization

The next three chapters deal with the three families of data visualization that fall under the auspices of “complex” data visualization. These three forms—hierarchical, network, and geospatial—all vary from traditional numerical data visualization in that they try to encode something besides numerical precision. You will hear, when presenting data in this way, more resistance to these forms in industry, because your audience assumes that numerical precision is the only reason for data visualization. This is often expressed as “show me the data,” when the data itself has no raw form. Data visualization is about how we decide to surface insights, and those insights cannot all be shown with one chart type. As a result, your decision to preference the network structure will cause the geospatial patterns to suffer, the same way your decision to show the numerical structure will cause the hierarchical patterns to suffer. In chapter 6 we start with hierarchical data visualization, which is the representation of how data is nested into categories and bands. Chapter 7 deals with network data visualization, which emphasizes the relationships between data. Chapter 8 deals with geospatial data visualization and therefore focuses on how spatial distribution influences the pattern of the data.