Abstract:

Data visualization is the graphical display of abstract information for three purposes: effective data exploration, sensemaking (also called data analysis) and communication. A two dimensional data table expresses numerical values precisely and it provides an efficient means to look up values for a particular dimension. When these numbers are presented as text in a table, our brains interpret them through the use of verbal processing and may fail looking for patterns, trends, or exceptions among these values. The information contained in numerical values becomes visible and understandable when communicated visually.  The strengths of data visualization come from our ability to process visual information much more rapidly than verbal information. Good data visualization techniques and technologies translate abstract information into visual representations that can be easily, efficiently, accurately, and meaningfully decoded. In this paper two such technologies will be presented: Oracle JET and Microsoft Power BI, using as a case study the Most Probable Precipitation Method (MPPM) for the regional precipitation estimation.