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Visualization Tools

This page lists some common tools for data analysis and visualization, and includes advice and information regarding availability to you as a student and/or researcher at the University of Oslo.

Note that analysis and visualization often overlap, research usually requires both exploratory and explanatory visualizations. Though many of the tools listed on this page can help you with both, it is advised that you explore the various sections to find the ideal tool for your data needs.  

Data Cleaning

  • OpenRefine – OpenRefine is a free and open-source tool designed to handle messy data by cleaning, transforming it between different formats, and augmenting it with web services and external data. 
  • PlotsOfData – Designed to create visual representations of data and statistical information in order to contrast different (experimental) scenarios. The purpose is to enhance transparency and interpretation by exploring with visualisations. It can also be used to find mistakes or biases in your data. Additional tools can be incorporated like summary statistics (mean, median, boxplot, violinplot) and inferential statistics (confidence intervals).
  • BoxPlotR – Box plots are great for visualizing distributions and for providing summaries of data that cannot be succinctly summarized by only the mean and standard deviation. Because of this they are fantastic plots for exploratory data visualization and comparing multiple distributions. BoxPlotR allows users to upload data from a file or directly input it into the interface and create personalized box plots with various options. 

Popular Programming Languages for creating data visualizations and conducting analysis 

  • R – R is a programming language designed for statistics and data analysis. While it offers some fundamental visualization capabilities, many users rely on third-party "packages" like ggplot2 to enrich their visualization options. Carpentry@UiO hosts workshops in R for beginners each semester. R is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Software Center and the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • RStudio – An integrated development environment (IDE) created for R, featuring a console, syntax-highlighting editor, and various tools for plotting, history tracking, and workspace management. RStudio is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Software Center and the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Python – Python is a language for both experienced programmers and beginners. Although it lacks built-in visualization functions, there is an abundance of visualization libraries available, with matplotlib being one commonly utilized in Python. Carpentry@UiO hosts workshops in Python for beginners each semester. Python is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Software Center.  

  • Jupyter Notebook – The Jupyter Notebook is a powerful tool for collaboration. It is a web application, enabling the creation and sharing of documents containing live code, equations, visualizations, and text. It serves diverse purposes, including data cleaning, transformation, statistical modeling, and machine learning. The Notebook supports over 40 programming languages, including Python, R, and Julia. Jupyter Notebook is available to UiO staff via the UiO webpage. 

Multi-purpose Visualization Tools

  • Tableau Public – Tableau Public offers a free academic license to students, instructors, and non-profit academic researchers. Tableau allows you to design and share interactive charts, graphs, maps, live dashboards, and applications. It's important to avoid using private or personally identifiable information in public visualizations, therefore only green data should be used. 

  • Microsoft Excel – Instead of using default chart styles, users can customize and refine their charts in Excel for the best results. Free access to MS365 is available to UiO staff and students.  

  • Data Wrapper – Data wrapper is a free web-based data visualization tool that allows basic customizations but can create visually attractive graphics. Charts built in Data Wrapper are meant to be embedded in a website, therefore only green data should be used.  

  • Chart blocks – Chart Blocks is an online visualization tool with a free plan that lets you build and host 30 charts at a time. All charts are publicly viewable, therefore only green data should be used. 

  • Adobe Illustrator – Adobe Illustrator is a powerful vector graphics editor suitable for creating infographics and other visuals. It provides for custom designs and includes tools for precise illustrations and graphics. Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Illustrator is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Adobe InDesign – Similar to Illustrator, Adobe InDesign provides versatility in its design functions, researchers can use it to create engaging and impactful infographics and diagrams. Many first time Adobe Creative Suite users find it to be more straightforward and intuitive than Illustrator. InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud set of tools and is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • RAWGraphs – RawGraphs is an online application designed to produce visualizations based on copied and pasted data or uploaded files. Its main aim is to empower individuals without technical or coding skills to effortlessly generate visual representations. Only green data should be used. 

  • Microsoft Visio – Part of the Microsoft Office package, Visio is useful for creating diagram types such as flowcharts, network diagrams, mind maps, and more. The most recent version of Visio offers data visualization capabilities, enabling users to generate diagrams directly from Excel data. Visio is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • NVivo – NVivo was created for qualitative research, including data visualization capabilities. Within the NVivo workspace, researchers can engage and interact with visualizations in different ways. Some types of visualizations possible in NVivo are particularly useful in qualitative research, include matrix visualizations, charts/graphs, dendograms, word trees, treemaps, word clouds, lattice graphs, cluster diagrams, maps, and more. Learn more about NVivo on the UiO NVivo webpage, NVivo is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

Interactive Visualization

  • Tableau Public – Tableau Public offers a free academic license to students, instructors, and non-profit academic researchers. Tableau allows you to design and share interactive charts, graphs, maps, live dashboards, and applications. All your work will be securely saved to your Tableau Public profile, accessible online for others to view. It's important to avoid using private or personally identifiable information in public visualizations, therefore only green data should be used.  

  • D3.js – D3.js is a powerful JavaScript library designed for manipulating documents based on data. It empowers you to create captivating web-based visualizations of your data, bringing it to life using HTML, SVG, and CSS for seamless interactivity. It's important to avoid using private or personally identifiable information in public visualizations, therefore only green data should be used. 

  • Highcharts JS – Highcharts JS is another JavaScript library that enables the incorporation of interactive charts into websites or web applications. It is free for non-commercial purposes. It's important to avoid using private or personally identifiable information in public visualizations, therefore only green data should be used. 

Qualitative Data

  • NVivo – NVivo was created for qualitative research, including data visualization capabilities. Within the NVivo workspace, researchers can engage and interact with visualizations in different ways. Some types of visualizations possible in NVivo are particularly useful in qualitative research, include matrix visualizations, charts/graphs, dendograms, word trees, treemaps, word clouds, lattice graphs, cluster diagrams, maps, and more. Learn more about NVivo on the UiO NVivo webpage, NVivo is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Adobe Illustrator – Adobe Illustrator is a powerful vector graphics editor suitable for creating infographics and other visuals. It provides for custom designs and includes tools for precise illustrations and graphics. Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Illustrator is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Adobe InDesign – Similar to Illustrator, Adobe InDesign provides versatility in its design functions, researchers can use it to create engaging and impactful infographics and diagrams. Many first time Adobe Creative Suite users find it to be more straightforward and intuitive than Illustrator. InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud set of tools and is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Timeline JS – TimelineJS is a free tool that allows you to create interactive timelines using Google Sheets. You can enrich your timeline with various media types, including images, videos, web pages, maps, and tweets. We advise that only green data be used. 

  • Voyant Tools – Voyant Tools offers a user-friendly text analysis solution, Voyant Tools presents a graphical interface with numerous visualization options. You can effortlessly analyze your text by copying and pasting it or uploading text files. We recommend that you use Voyant Server instead of the web version. 

Mapping and Geospatial Data

  • Tableau Public – Tableau Public offers a free academic license to students, instructors, and non-profit academic researchers. Tableau offers a diverse range of captivating interactive visualizations and maps with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface. All your work will be securely saved to your Tableau Public profile, accessible online for others to view. It's important to avoid using private or personally identifiable information in public visualizations, therefore only green data should be used. 

  • Google My Maps – For more information, please refer to the Google My Maps information page. 

  • VisualEyes – VisualEyes’ purpose is to seamlessly integrate images, maps, charts, videos, and data into captivating, dynamic visualizations. VisualEyes enables scholars to present selected primary source materials and research findings via a map and timeline format, check out the website for an example of a potential project.  

  • QGIS – QGIS is an open-source geographic information system that allows users to visualize, manage, edit, and analyze geospatial data while creating printable maps. The downside of QGIS, compared to Google My Maps and VisualEyes, is that GIS programs are less accessible to people who aren’t willing or able to take a class on the software or at least dedicate significant time to learning it. GIS Programs are available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Software Center. 

    • ArcGIS Online – ArcGIS Online is a lighter, more user-friendly version of its elaborate counterpart, ArcGIS Desktop. Using ArcGIS Online you can upload spatial data from spreadsheets to craft customizable and interactive web maps. 

    • ArcGIS Online Story Maps – As an add-on to ArcGIS Online, Story Maps enable the creation of interactive web apps for ArcGIS Online maps, allowing users to guide their audience through maps by incorporating text, images, videos, and more. 

  • NVivo – NVivo was created for qualitative research, including data visualization capabilities. Within the NVivo workspace, researchers can engage and interact with visualizations in different ways. Some types of visualizations possible in NVivo are particularly useful in qualitative research, include matrix visualizations, charts/graphs, dendograms, word trees, treemaps, word clouds, lattice graphs, cluster diagrams, maps, and more. Learn more about NVivo on the UiO NVivo webpage, NVivo is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

Network Data 

General:  

  • Gephi – Gephi is open-source and free to download. It is an interactive platform tailored for visualizing and exploring networks and complex systems. Features include exploratory data analysis, link analysis, social network analysis, biological network analysis, dynamic and hierarchical graphs explanatory graphs. 

  • NodeXL Basic – NodeXL Basic is an add-on for Microsoft Excel, available with a free plan, enabling the creation of node-link diagrams using Excel spreadsheets. However, it is only compatible with Microsoft Windows versions of Excel.  

  • Microsoft Visio – Part of the Microsoft Office package, Visio is useful for creating diagram types such as flowcharts, network diagrams, mind maps, and more. The most recent version of Visio offers data visualization capabilities, enabling users to generate diagrams directly from Excel data. Visio is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk.  

  • RAWGraphs – RAWGraphs is a web-based tool that generates visualizations from copied and pasted data or uploaded files. Although its primary focus is not on network visualization, it provides several options for visualizing hierarchical data and flows, powered by D3. 

  • LibreOffice Draw – Part of the open-source LibreOffice suite, Draw is an open-source version of Microsoft Visio (it can even open files created using Visio). Draw is a useful tool for easily creating diagrams, flowcharts, organization charts, network diagrams and much more, even if you're not a naturally talented artist. 

  • NVivo – NVivo was created for qualitative research, including data visualization capabilities. Within the NVivo workspace, researchers can engage and interact with visualizations in different ways. Some types of visualizations possible in NVivo are particularly useful in qualitative research, include matrix visualizations, charts/graphs, dendograms, word trees, treemaps, word clouds, lattice graphs, cluster diagrams, maps, and more. Learn more about NVivo on the UiO NVivo webpage, NVivo is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

Specific uses:  

  • VOSViewer – VOSViewer is a specialized network visualization tool designed to facilitate the examination of bibliometric networks, including researcher collaborations, journals, researchers, or individual publications. VOSviewer can also be used to construct and visualize co-occurrence networks (text-mining) of terms extracted from a body of scientific literature. 

  • Palladio – Palladio serves as a browser-based tool specifically designed to explore and display historical networks. It offers various visualization options, including network graphs, maps, timelines, and uploading of own gallery. The page itself is relatively effortless and provides a clear user interface.  

Diagrams and Flowcharts

  • LibreOffice Draw – Part of the open-source LibreOffice suite, Draw is an open-source version of Microsoft Visio (it can even open files created using Visio). Draw is a useful tool for easily creating diagrams, flowcharts, organization charts, network diagrams and much more, even if you're not a naturally talented artist.  
  • Lucidchart – Lucidchart offers a user-friendly web-based diagramming tool for creating flowcharts, organization charts, wireframes, and more. It also supports real-time collaboration and integrates with Google Drive, Microsoft Office, and G Suite.
  • draw.io – draw.io is a free web-based service that allows you to create flowcharts, network diagrams, organization charts, and other diagrams. Draw.io integrates with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and GitHub for easy storage and sharing of your diagrams.

  • Microsoft Visio – Part of the Microsoft Office package, Visio is useful for creating diagram types such as flowcharts, network diagrams, mind maps, and more. The most recent version of Visio offers data visualization capabilities, enabling users to generate diagrams directly from Excel data. Visio is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • RAWGraphs – RAWGraphs is a web-based tool that generates visualizations from copied and pasted data or uploaded files. Although its primary focus is not on network visualization, it provides several options for visualizing hierarchical data and flows, powered by D3. 

  • Coggle – Coggle is a web-based tool specializing in mind maps and flowcharts. It offers sharing and collaboration features.

  • Infogram – Infogram is a web-based service that allows you to create informative and engaging infographics, charts, and reports using a simple drag-and-drop interface.

  • Mindomo – Mindomo is a tool that allows you to create mind maps, concept maps, and other diagrams to organize thoughts, ideas, and information in a structured manner.

  • Adobe Illustrator – Adobe Illustrator is a powerful vector graphics editor suitable for creating infographics and other visuals. It provides for custom designs and includes tools for precise illustrations and graphics. Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Illustrator is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Adobe InDesign – Similar to Illustrator, Adobe InDesign provides versatility in its design functions, researchers can use it to create engaging and impactful infographics and diagrams. Many first time Adobe Creative Suite users find it to be more straightforward and intuitive than Illustrator. InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud set of tools and is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Microsoft Excel - Although Microsoft Excel is primarily used as a spreadsheet tool, it also offers the ability to create basic charts and graphics for data visualization. Free access to MS365 is available to UiO staff and students.

Infographics

  • Canva – Canva is a web-based graphic design tool offering a user-friendly infographic creator with drag-and-drop functionality. It provides numerous templates to jumpstart your creations, and you can download the finished infographics as jpg, png, or pdf files. 

  • easel.ly – This website offers free infographic templates and design elements that users can customize to craft and share visual ideas. Completed infographics can be exported as jpegs or pdfs. While it boasts a drag-and-drop interface for easy use, it may have some limitations on flexibility. 

  • Adobe Illustrator – Adobe Illustrator is a powerful vector graphics editor suitable for creating infographics and other visuals. It provides for custom designs and includes tools for precise illustrations and graphics. Illustrator is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Illustrator is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Adobe InDesign – Similar to Illustrator, Adobe InDesign provides versatility in its design functions, researchers can use it to create engaging and impactful infographics and diagrams. Many first time Adobe Creative Suite users find it to be more straightforward and intuitive than Illustrator. InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud set of tools and is available to UiO staff and students through the UiO Programkiosk. 

  • Microsoft PowerPoint – Despite being primarily a presentation software, Microsoft PowerPoint can also be utilized to design infographics. With its user-friendly interface and various built-in elements, it offers a straightforward approach to creating simple infographics. Free access to MS365 is available to UiO staff and students. 

  • The Noun Project and Flaticon – Both of these platforms are libraries of free-to-use icons, which can be helpful when designing your infographics. Always ensure to check and comply with any license conditions specified when reusing content created by others. 

Published July 26, 2023 10:09 AM - Last modified Mar. 13, 2024 7:39 AM
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