Tour of MyData Tool

July 6, 2015

Author: Kr Pawan

This is about the introduction of MyData tool that I have used to present my visualizations in my organization/working paper. I was preparing some report that included dynamic graphs for that I had taken help of R programming and Plotly. In the process of visualization I had faced problem related to mapping of my data over the India Map because most of the maps that are available on internet do not show the complete map of India, so I have taken help of MyData tool to present my map and it was great to see such fascinating maps and features available in tool.

MyData tool is used for creating handy and easy visualization on www.data.gov.in. Mydata tool has been developed with use of d3.js in background to proffer dynamic and interactive visualization that consist of Bar chart, Multi Bar chart, Pie chart, Line chart, Area chart, Bubble chart, Map, Line with view Finder, Horizontal Bar chart, Multi chart, Radar chart and Circular Heat chart. Today D3.js is very powerful javascript library and widely used for the creation of beautiful graphics that is dynamic and interactive.

Some important points that I want to focus are MyData tool provides mapping of data, which is based on the geographical/spatial category of States/UTs, on the map of India. This type of facility is not easily available on other websites or through other sources. It also gives flexibility to use csv, json and url link of data source.

Let’s start with tool features like preparation of data (include data source, type and format), chart settings, data settings, transpose and visualization type.

• Data Preparation: Data should have matrix structure in which first row must contain header and first column must contain names of state/UTs. If the names of states/UTs are not in the first column, instead they are available in the first row; the tool gives us the facility to handle such data through transposing. The standard format of data should be csv – the data in json/jsonp may also be used if it is in appropriate structure required by the tool.

• Open your data in notepad, copy and paste it on link provided here https://data.gov.in/visualize3/?page=my-data with tab “Copy & Paste CSV data here”. Now click on proceed button then take you to main dashboard.

• Once the main dashboard opens click on Chart Settings tab then Chart Series, it opens features like Series Name, X axis (select column that have state/UTs name), Y axis (select column whose data you want to project on map), Color this gives wide range of color selection and click on Add Series button.

• Now click again on Chart Settings tab then Visualization Type then Map. Voila! You have your map, you may like to add more features (like you use toppings in pizza) on your map to make it more interactive.

• Click on Chart Settings then Map Settings. It gives some main features to categorize your colors on the basis of scaling of data, Legend title, Map Fill color, Map Stroke Color, Stoke Width that helps to sharpen the boundary of states/UTs and Option of showing label on map. Now by adding these features then go and click on Apply settings. Great you have your shiny map.

In next blog I will take you to the tour of how to create your own visualization on www.data.gov.in by creating an account in Open data portal. I shall wait for your comments and love to see your creations. Do share your Map plots or other plots that are also available in MyData tool.

Cheers