New graphics tools in Statistics Finland

Task force Visualisation Luxembourg, 6 May 2008

29.2.2008 2Markku Huttunen

XML publication process – where are we at? At the end of April 2008 XML publication process is used fully in 25

statistics (HTML and PDF publication produced) Further 15 statistics publish statistical releases

Further 30 statistics are planning to take XML publication process to full production by the end of 2008

Better graphics tools to XML-production are needed Producing graphics is a manual process The quality of the graphics has not been satisfactory

29.2.2008 3Markku Huttunen

XML based dissemination process - XML and PC-Axis

Picture: Harri Lehtinen

29.2.2008 4Markku Huttunen

Task of the graphics project Task of the project was to find tools for producing graphics for basic

statistical publications (HTML, PDF, print) Animations, GIS etc. were excluded

Applications on the agenda of the project CMS (jfreechart), DeltaGraph, Excel2007, HarvardGraphics,

OpenOffice Draw, RainPro (SharpPlot) - PX-Edit, SAS/Graph, SPSS, Xact

29.2.2008 5Markku Huttunen

Main results of the graphics project

Tools for producing graphics for basic statistical publications SAS/Graph for SAS based production processes RainPro for PX-Edit based production processes

For high quality printed publications HarwardGraphics -> DeltaGraph (to be evaluated further)

29.2.2008 6Markku Huttunen

More detailed results HarvardGraphics:

Currently in use (Advanced Presentations 3.0) Problems with the technical quality of the image files (PNG, JPG, TIF) Production cannot be automated

DeltaGraph: Technically good quality of image files (PNG) Many modes of drawing graphs Production cannot be automated SF already has some experience Will replace HarvardGraphics in manual production of graphs?

Xact: Basically similar to DeltaGraph SF has no experience Considerably more expensive than DeltaGraph

29.2.2008 7Markku Huttunen

More detailed results 2 CMS (jFreeChart):

Java library No ready made user interfaces -> a lot of programming Not a promising solution?

SPSS and OpenOffice: Not interesting? Continuing use of MS-Office (ICT strategy) SPSS not used in statistics production

Excel2007 New user interface, graphs can be saved as image files Graphics basically the same as in Excel97 Integration to table production is possible using macros, but they have to be

programmed again (Excel97 -> Excel2007) Integration to XML-publication process not possible

29.2.2008 8Markku Huttunen

More detailed results 3 RainPro (APL-graphics)

Graph production with this when tables are produced with PX-Edit (compare to SAS) Many modes of drawing graphs, also PNG and SVG Used in Tieto Enator´s PX-Web based graphics database product Integration to PX-Edit seamless Software development and courses needed

SAS-EG/Graph: Techically high-quality image files (SAS 9.1.3 tested; SAS 9.2 is now available - not

yet tested) Many modes of drawing graphs, in v. 9.2 also PNG and SVG SAS-EG user interface and creates SAS code can be automated Training required Statistical tables produced with SAS image production also with SAS Production process of graphs has to be planned (SAS EG & Base-SAS) Software development and courses needed

29.2.2008 9Markku Huttunen

XML based dissemination process - XML and PC-Axis

Picture: Harri Lehtinen