Visualization frameworks

A graphics framework provides a high-level interface to create complex visualizations as easily as possible. Ideally, we would like to acquire the data, specify a minimum of parametrization to identify the layout, labels, and so on, and pass these to a routine to produce the overall display with little (or no) knowledge of the underlying plotting methods.

Plotly/PlotlyJS

Plotly is a data analysis and graphing web application that can create precise and beautiful charts. It is based on D3 and, as such, incorporates a high degree of interaction such as hover text, panning, and zoom controls, as well as real-time data streaming options.

We will start by looking at PlotlyJS. It does not interact with the Plotly web API; instead, it uses the underlying JavaScript library to construct graphics using all local resources. This means that neither a Plotly account nor an internet connection is needed to use this package. However, plots can be uploaded into the...