The results of a Data Visualisation and Visual Analytics Survey have been released by Daden Limited (Daden). Daden created this survey as part of the development of their new ground-breaking data visualisation tool, Datascape. The aim was to understand what applications analysts were already using, what they did and didn’t like about them and what people might want to see in a 3D visual analytics application.
The first set of questions concentrated on trying to find out what people are using as visual analytics tools, and not surprisingly Excel dominated out of the choice of applications listed, but the relatively high use of R confirmed its position as a tool-set of choice for those involved with serious analytics. Other applications to score high included Tableau, Spotfire and QlikView.
Beyond the simpler tasks, responses showed that existing tools are not doing the greatest job in the more novel areas such as geo-temporal display, animation or network based analysis., with less than 40% of respondents scoring these areas as good or excellent.
Nearly 50% said that they never used a system which plots data in 3D and only 10% said that were using a 3D system on a regular basis. Excel came out top as the most used 3D system, even though it does not plot in proper 3D!
Unsurprisingly being able to use the 3rd dimension to plot another variable received the highest rating for the main advantage of 3D in a user’s experience. And top features requested to available within the 3D application were:
- ease of use
- import from different databases
- ability to integrate with other 2D applications
- web accessible
- time scrubbing/filtering
David Burden, Daden’s Managing Director says “The aim of the survey was to understand current use of, and views on, visual analytics tools. The feedback has been excellent and it has given us useful insight into the state of the data visualisation market, as seen from the user perspective.”
“Interestingly over 50% of people were dealing with databases of less than 1 millions records, so whilst big data may be the concern of some, a lot of people are still talking about more manageable numbers, and around 70% of the respondents were looking to plot around 10,000 points or fewer” David added.
The survey, has given Daden a good understanding of the current market and what users actually want from a 3D visualisation tool. With Datascape, Daden certainly addresses the lack of tools with good 3D features. Daden hope to run the survey again in 2013.
To download results of survey: – http://www.daden.co.uk/media/white-papers/
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