The Importance of Data Visualization in the Age of Big Data

Nilesh Parashar
4 min readAug 2, 2023

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You’ve probably seen a report, graph, etc. that you didn’t fully understand more than once. Prescriptive decision-making relies heavily on being able to make sense of large amounts of data, and this is where visualization comes in. Uncontrolled information is hostile and hinders decision-making. But once we do, it will guide us in making choices that boost productivity and quality. Our experiences as users, collaborators, developers, clients, and consultants will all be altered once data is visualized (as opposed to seen in Excel tables). Having them communicate in a way that we can understand and engage with.

The best online data science courses can be helpful to get a better understanding of this subject.

Concept of Data Visualisation

  1. Data visualization is the process of representing data visually, such as on a map or graph, to aid in its comprehension and insight extraction. Data visualization’s primary objective is to facilitate the discovery of hidden relationships and anomalies in massive datasets. Information graphics is typically used synonymously with information visualization and statistical graphics.
  2. After data has been gathered, processed, and modeled, it must be visualised so that insights may be drawn from it. This is one of the processes in the data science process. Data presentation architecture (DPA) seeks to find, locate, modify, format, and transmit data in the most effective manner possible, and data visualization is a part of that.
  3. Almost every profession would benefit from learning to visualize data. Teachers may use it to show off their students’ exam scores, AI researchers can use it to discover new possibilities, and business leaders can use it to update their stakeholders. It’s also crucial in big data initiatives. In the early days of the big data movement, when corporations were amassing huge troves of information, they needed a simple method to acquire a bird’s-eye perspective of everything. The use of visualization software just made sense. For similar reasons, visualization is essential for sophisticated analytics. Data visualisation is essential for a data scientists to keep track of outcomes and make sure their models are functioning as expected when they are developing complex predictive analytics or ML algorithms. This is due to the fact that pictures are worth a thousand numbers when it comes to understanding complicated algorithms.

What are the Benefits of Visualising Data?

Data visualization allows for the efficient and immediate transmission of information via the use of standardized visual networks. Businesses may benefit from the method by learning what influences customers’ buying decisions, how to make data more remembered for key stakeholders, where and when to stock certain items, and how to forecast sales volumes.

Some more advantages of data visualization are as follows:

  1. Increased speed with which information can be processed
  2. Improved clarity with which decisions can be made
  3. Sustained interest from the audience through easily digestible material
  4. Widespread dissemination of information
  5. Increased likelihood of knowledge sharing for all parties involved are all benefits of this approach.
  6. Data scientists will no longer be needed since information is readily available and easy to interpret, leading to faster decision-making and improved efficiency.

Big Data and Data Visualisation

Visualization is more crucial than ever because of the rise in popularity of big data and data analytic initiatives. Machine learning is being used more often by businesses because it allows them to collect vast volumes of data without having to manually process all of it. The use of visualization provides a tool to speed up this process and show information in a manner that is easily understood by company owners and stakeholders. Normal visualization methods like pie charts, histograms, and business graphs are typically insufficient for the visualization of big data.

Instead, it makes use of elaborate visualizations like heat maps and fever charts. In order to gather, analyze, and visualize massive amounts of data for human consumption, high-powered computing systems are required. Big data visualization has several upsides, but it also has some drawbacks that businesses should be aware of. Here are some of them:

A visualization expert should be employed for optimal use of large data visualization software. To ensure that businesses are making the most of their data, this expert has to know how to choose the right data sets and visualise them effectively. IT departments and upper management must often collaborate on large data visualization projects due to the technical requirements of the task, which include high-powered computers, efficient storage systems, and maybe even migration to the cloud.

Big data visualization can only be as insightful as the data used to create it. In order to ensure the integrity of your business’s data, metadata, and data sources, you need to put in place the appropriate governance and control mechanisms.

Examples of Data Visualisation

The most popular method of data visualization in the early days was to use a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to turn the data into a table, bar graph, or pie chart. These visual approaches are still widely utilized, although more sophisticated options such as the following have been accessible in recent years.

  1. Infographics
  2. Bubble clouds
  3. Bullet graphs
  4. Heat maps
  5. Fever charts
  6. Time series charts

Conclusion

Visualization of big data is an incredible way for making the greatest possible impact on a business. Decision-makers can make the most informed choices for the future when they have access to reliable and insightful reports. Selecting the most effective big data visualization tool is crucial. The effectiveness of big data analytics and visualisation is amplified when they are used together.

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Nilesh Parashar

I am a marketing and advertising student at Hinduja College, Mumbai University, Mumbai, and I have been studying advertising since 4 years.