Information:
Data Visualization is a way to present data in exciting ways through charts and graphs. Examples of this technique can be found at:
Flowing Data
WorldMapper
Gapminder
Gapminder is currently owned by google and a free open source flash version of this system can be used through the google documents spreadsheet applications menu. This requires a google account and your data to be uploaded. The graph when created will only appear as an image if taken outside this google application however and will remain static. Help with google document can be found here.
Techniques:
Edward Tufte was written many books about Data Visualization and his tips on techniques can be found here.
Software Options:
JGraphpad is a powerful, easy-to-use, feature-rich and standards-compliant open source graph component available for Java. Application areas include Process diagrams, workflow and BPM visualization, flowcharts, even traffic or water flow etc.
yEd - Java™ Graph Editor is a powerful graph editor that is written entirely in the Java programming language. It can be used to quickly and effectively generate drawings and to apply automatic layouts to a range of different diagrams and networks.
Graphviz is open source graph visualization software. It has several main graph layout programs, web and interactive graphical interfaces, and auxiliary tools, libraries, and language bindings.
XML/SWF Charts is a simple, yet powerful tool to create attractive web charts and graphs from dynamic XML data. The XML source can be prepared manually, or generated dynamically using any scripting language (PHP, ASP, CFML, Perl, etc.). The Official tutorial explains exactly, how you can use XML/SWF for your personal projects.
JFreeChart is a free 100% Java chart library which creates charts such as bar charts, line charts, pie charts, time series charts, candlestick charts, high/low/open/close charts, wind plots, and meter charts.
JFreeChart is licensed under LGPL license and requires Java 2 platform (JDK Version 1.3 and higher).
SPSS also includes a powerful graphic engine to map data. If none of the above seem to satisfy try SPSS!
