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Is there a good graph plotting app?

E.g. I have some stuff like:

Browsers from 2010-06-09 to 2010-06-16
Firefox: 45100
MSIE: 12779
Chrome: 10843
Opera: 3286
Safari: 5472
Android: 302
Browsers from 2010-06-16 to 2010-06-23
Firefox: 42845
MSIE: 10125
Chrome: 7789
Opera: 2814
Safari: 6473
Android: 462
Browsers from 2010-06-23 to 2010-06-30
Firefox: 46036
MSIE: 15679
Chrome: 9622
Opera: 2513
Safari: 6433
Android: 951
Konqueror: 96

or some such data, and it can plot a graph for me?

Not just for this but any kind of data?

Prefer free site if possible.

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2 Answers 2

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4

You can use Google Docs - Spreadsheet to create a graph based on data you insert. Probably not on a dynamic, real time scale, but you can still get a graph out, just like you could in Excel.

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2
  • Actually I got a nicer graph with this than I could get with Excel. The export image only gives a small sized image though.
    – delete
    Jul 7, 2010 at 9:41
  • If you're talking about exporting the image of your chart in Google Docs/Spreadsheets, you could always take a screenshot of the chart, if the export is failing.
    – glasnt
    Jul 9, 2010 at 1:26
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You can use the Google-Chart-API to draw dynamically charts (up to a size of 300,000 pixels, 1000px max in each dimension). You can play with the API over at the playground.

this is an example of the data you have given:

alt text

How to create such chart?

  1. Copy the URL of the diagram above
  2. Go over to the playground.
  3. Put the URL of the diagram into the URL field
  4. It will show you the parts of the URL in a nicer way

Then you can play around with the parameters:

cht=bvs:nda
chs=250x150
chd=t:45100,42845,46036|
    12779,10125,15679|
    10843,7789,9622|
    3286,2814,2513|
    5472,6473,6433|
    302,462,951|
chco=aaaaff,aaffaa,ffcccc,ccccff,ccffcc
chds=0,100000
chld=Firefox|
    MSIE|
    Chrome|
    Opera|
    Safari|
    Android
chbh=a

There is also an online wizard for it. Check it out at http://imagecharteditor.appspot.com/.

Read the documentation about the parameters. For example, the "chld" parameter is to create labels for the data. I was not in the mood to fine tune it to the end, so you do not have any labels for "which color represents what".

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6
  • 3
    awfully developer-y though...
    – Jeff Atwood
    Jul 7, 2010 at 8:32
  • oh so true, but ... for those who do not feel the pain ... :)
    – akira
    Jul 7, 2010 at 9:10
  • I don't see how to go from the data to the graph. Could you explain what you did?
    – delete
    Jul 7, 2010 at 10:02
  • OK, I see it has to be done via the URL. It is not suitable for uploading a lot of data and getting a graph back. However, it seems like a really fun thing.
    – delete
    Jul 9, 2010 at 16:22
  • via POST you can upload 16k of data.
    – akira
    Jul 9, 2010 at 18:32