Comments on: Open Source Data Visualization Framework – Axiis

By: de schoonheid van data |

de schoonheid van data | — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 22:23:33 +0000

[...] is het eenvoudig om visualisaties te maken. Soortgelijke programma’s (als OpenDX, Axiis, FlowingData, DrasticData) zijn iets minder eenvoudig te doorgronden, maar leveren wel imposante visualisaties, [...]

By: Whatever 25 May 2009 | PTS Blog

Whatever 25 May 2009 | PTS Blog — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:30:15 +0000

[...] FlowingData I read about a new open-source visualization framework called Axiis, which has been released under [...]

By: System Advancements at the Monastery » Blog Archive » Setting Up Axiis for Security Visualization

Fri, 29 May 2009 19:11:33 +0000

[...] graphics framework, and Adobe Flex 3. Thanks to Nathan Yau for pointing this out in his post “Open Source Data Visualization Framework – Axiis.” There were also great comments to Nathan’s post, including a comparison of Axiis to [...]

By: Tom Gonzalez

Tom Gonzalez — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:56:54 +0000

Here is the blog post that talks about the requirements around a radial layout and actually points to (one of the few) benefits of using a radial scale that takes advantage of the PI*r^2 distortion caused in using wedge surface areas:
http://www.twgonzalez.com/blog.....ked-wedge/

By: Tom Gonzalez

Tom Gonzalez — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:03:26 +0000

@BCC PTS Blog? What is the URL, I always enjoy seeing critiques.

(BTW, the impetus to build that chart was based on the clients hard requirement of seeing data in a pie format, not because it was the most efficient visual to represent that data.)

By: BCC

BCC — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:57:56 +0000

Also, there's a critique of one of the top chart on this page over at the PTS blog...

By: Tom Gonzalez

Tom Gonzalez — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:24:05 +0000

@BCC, Good point, Yes please read my comments above with the disclaimer that I am a founder of the Axiis project so my views and opinions may be biased :)

FYI, The AS3 Flare (ported from the Berkely Java version) project was used as some inspiration for Axiis, it is a very solid project and people have done some incredible work with it.

By: BCC

BCC — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:20:23 +0000

Tom,

I know your link makes it clear, but you might want to mention in your comments that you are a founder of the Axiis project. Both as a disclaimer, and so that we can thank you for your work!

By: Tom Gonzalez

Tom Gonzalez — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:43:21 +0000

A couple of clarifiers here. Flex is an AS3 SDK, which allows for full OO/Procedural programming as well as application development with MXML, its markup language. You can use either/or in Flex. The advantage is Flex has a full GUI library in the SDK.

The biggest advantage in Flex (IMO) is that MXML supports automatic event driven binding. So your markup can be very concise and very dynamic, allowing you to do things in a much more intuitive manner (especially for graphical content) than you would in OO/Procedural code. Doing work work in both Processing and direct AS3, I find the markup approach to be more elegant and flexible for creating graphical assets.

Re, the difference between Axiis and Flare, is that Flare has a lot of focus on layouts and transitions, while Axiis is more focused on dynamic generation of composite/complex geometries and patterns. Flare is also all OO/Procedural, while Axiis is primarily Markup (but does support OO/Procedural.) Flare is also a lot more mature than Axiis. It probably comes down to personal preference and the specifics of your project.

By: Nathan Yau

Nathan Yau — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:35:38 +0000

@d^2 – flare is an actionscript 3 library, so that’s a big difference. From what I hear, Flex isn’t as flexible than if you were to use actionscript, but Flex does require less code. Although again, I’m not a Flex user. I think it mostly comes down to a matter of preference between Flex and AS3