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Software for time series visualization April 2016

I. Web-based

The software packages listed in this section allow the visualizing time series data on websites.

Recommended software packages are Plotly and D3 (and/or it’s derivatives).

Plotly

https://plot.ly/

Proprietary online software for all kinds of data visualizations and dashboard creation. Integrates

nicely with R, Matlab, Python, Excel etc.

MetricGraphics.js

http://metricsgraphicsjs.org/

Open source lightweight JavaScript library for time series visualization built on top of D3.js (below). It

is optimized to be as simple to use as possible and is highly suitable for someone who is new to

JavaScript. Given the simplicity of its code, it provides a surprising degree of flexibility, but lacks

support for (good) real-time updates of the data. There is a package available for integration with R.

Facette

facette.io

Free and simple real-time visualization of time series from various source formats.

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Data-Driven Documents (D3.js)

d3js.org

Open source JavaScript library with an enormous range of dynamic, interactive data visualization

capabilities. Custom visualizations can be created with the hundreds of functions available. Many

online tutorials are available.

The library http://metricsgraphicsjs.org, which is built on top of D3, is optimized for visualizing time

series data. The Cubism.js plugin (square.github.io/cubism/) allows clear visualization of multivariate

time series by automatically scaling the plots for rapid comparison.

Rickshaw

http://code.shutterstock.com/rickshaw/

Another open source JavaScript toolkit built on top of D3.js that is optimized for time series

visualisation . It requires a bit more familiarity with JavaScript than MetricsGraphics.js but is on the

other hand much more flexible. It is designed with interactivity and real-time data support in mind

and provides simple yet powerful graphs.

AnyChart

http://www.anychart.com/

A proprietary JavaScript-based solution for interactive data visualization and dashboard creation with

fast performance even with large amounts of data.

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Envision.js

http://www.humblesoftware.com/envision

An (open-source) JavaScript library for creating simple interactive time series visualizations. It is

designed especially with financial applications in mind. Provides a limited amount of interactivity but

works well with real-time data. Simple to use but not very flexible.

Quadrigram

http://www.quadrigram.com/

A free and user friendly (no code) tool for creating interactive data visualizations using Google Drive

to store the data. Custom features are available with the paid version.

ZingChart

http://www.zingchart.com/

A JavaScript library for quickly creating high-quality data visualizations with big data, real time and

interactivity features. Works well on mobile devices too. The free version has all the features but

includes a watermark.

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Charted

www.charted.co

A free time series visualization tool with a minimal set of features for simplicity. A link to the CSV, TSV

or Google spreadsheet is supplied and the graph is automatically updated every 30 mins.

Datawrapper

www.datawrapper.de

A simple, code-free tool for creating charts from Excel, OpenOffice or CSV formats. Interactive charts

can be embedded within websites at a cost, but a free version allows one to download the charts in

PNG format.

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II. Desktop-based

The software packages listed in this section allow the visualization and analysis of time-series data

using installed software for the purpose of on-screen analysis and/or presentation. Recommended

software packages are SAS Visual Analytics, Datawatch and Infragistics Ultimate.

SAS Visual Analytics

www.sas.com/en_us/software/business-intelligence/visual-analytics.html

Proprietary software with advanced data visualization capabilities along with analysis, prediction and

decision making features.

STATA, NCSS

www.stata.com , www.ncss.com/software/ncss

Commercial software, integrated with excel, similar to MATLAB's layout but seems to solely focus on

statistics and focuses less on programming.

WEKA

wiki.pentaho.com/display/DATAMINING/Time+Series+Analysis+and+Forecasting+with+Weka

Open source package implemented in Java. Provides a GUI but it is also possible to use the library

directly, provided that one knows the Java programming language. The package also features

powerful prediction features.

Zaitun

http://www.zaitunsoftware.com

Zaitun Time Series is a free and open source software designed for statistical analysis of time series

data. It provides easy way for time series modelling and forecasting.

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Datawatch

www.datawatch.com

A commercial data visualization tool with many features. Time series can be interactively visualized

and analysed in real time and conditions can be set up for visual alerts. Allows dashboard creation.

Gephi

gephi.org

A free tool for visualizing and exploring data networks and how they evolve over time.

Infragistics Ultimate

www.infragistics.com

A commercial set of professional developer tools for developing interactive data visualization

applications for the web, Windows, Windows phone, iOS and Android.

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III. Web/desktop-based

The software packages listed in this section allow the visualization of time series data using installed

software or using web-based applications. Tableau is recommended for non-financial time series and

Bloomberg Professional is recommended for financial time series visualization.

Tableau

www.tableau.com

Proprietary software with a wide range of advanced analysis and visualization capabilities. Click, drag

and drop interface with no programming. Can be integrated with R, Excel and more.

Bloomberg Professional (Bloomberg Terminal)

www.bloomberg.com/professional

A very expensive software and hardware system for monitoring and analysing real time financial

market data. The system also allows users to place trades and provides news and features a secure

messaging system.