Why Data Visualisation is Important?

Abis Hussain Syed
4 min readOct 26, 2022

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History of Data Visualization

The idea of utilising visualization to describe data has been around for centuries. Although visualization may have gotten more sleek and useful over time but looking at history, Maps and graphs were first introduced in the 17th century along with the development of the pie chart in the early 1800s. A few decades later, Charles Minard’s map of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia became one of the most frequently referenced instances of statistical graphics. In order to provide a more thorough picture of the event, Charles used time and temperature scales to provide more details to the map which was used to show the size of Napoleon’s army as well as the path of Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow

But technology is what really gave data visualization its spark with its ability to process massive volumes of data at swift speeds thanks to computers. Today, data visualization with its unique blend of science and art is changing the corporate landscape by becoming centric to business success.

Charles Minard’s map of Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. The graphic is notable for its representation in two dimensions of six types of data: the number of Napoleon’s troops; distance; temperature; the latitude and longitude; direction of travel; and location relative to specific dates.

Charles Minard’s map of Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. The graphic is notable for its representation in two dimensions of six types of data: the number of Napoleon’s troops; distance; temperature; the latitude and longitude; direction of travel; and location relative to specific dates.

Why Visualizations are important

Businesses whether small or large need data visualization to help them quickly spot data trends, which would otherwise be difficult to spot. Analysts can use visualizations which can be simple charts or histograms to identify key ideas and novel patterns. As data is being generated on a scale of quintillion bytes each day, hidden insights can be hard or even impossible to derive without proper visualization

Data regardless of its size is valuable and helps in assisting businesses to increase their profit margins, revenue, marketing categorization and real-time tech support. Information is the most important leverage for every organization. Visualization helps in conveying their points and taking advantage of their information.

Data Visualization Core Benefits

Visualization of any kind such as dashboards, histograms, scatter plots, infographics, maps, charts, videos, presentations, etc., can be utilized to visualize and comprehend data. Decision-makers can relate data through visualization in order to gain greater insights and benefit from its importance, which includes

Relationship Correlations: Finding the correlations between independent variables might be difficult without data visualization. Understanding those variables can be vital for rapid decision-making.

Performing a Better Analysis of the Data: Business stakeholders can concentrate on the areas that need attention by analyzing reports. Visual mediums aid analysts in comprehending the crucial information required for their line of work. Whether it’s a sales report or a marketing strategy, a visual depiction of the data helps businesses make better analyses and decisions that enhance revenues.

Trends Over Time: Although it would seem like an obvious application for data visualization, this is actually one of its most beneficial uses. Without the required knowledge from the past and the present, it is impossible to make forecasts. Trends over time show us where we have been and where we might go.

Examining the Market: Data visualization can utilize information from various markets to provide insights into which audiences to target and which ones to avoid. By presenting this information in various charts and graphs, we can see the potential gains which can be achieved inside those markets more clearly.

More rapid decision-making: People process images more quickly than they do long laborious tabular forms or reports. Decision-makers can move fast based on fresh data insights if the data is well-communicated, accelerating both decision-making and corporate growth.

Reacting to the Market: Being able to quickly and easily access information with data shown in a clear manner on a useful dashboard enables firms to act fast in response to findings and helps them avoid making mistakes.

Communicate the story to others: Once a business has uncovered new insights from visual analytics, the next step is to communicate those insights to others. Using charts, graphs or other visually impactful representations of data is important in this step because it’s engaging and gets the message across quickly.

Conclusion

We need data visualization because the human brain is not well equipped to devour so much raw, unorganized information and turn it into something usable and understandable. We need graphs and charts to communicate data findings so that we can identify patterns and trends to gain insight and make better decisions faster.

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Abis Hussain Syed
Abis Hussain Syed

Written by Abis Hussain Syed

A passionate data scientist with a keen interest in unraveling the hidden insights within complex datasets

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