Therefore, it is not the aesthetic value of a visualization that counts but the clarity of the message it conveys. The purpose of such imagery is to quickly transfer information from the machine to the human brain, not only efficiently but also in the most meaningful manner possible. Think of it as the pie chart function of your favorite spreadsheet, only much more powerful. Where business intelligence (BI) tools can take huge swaths of data and parse that into digestible data points, data visualization is the presentation portion of that equation. Read our editorial mission (Opens in a new window) & see how we test (Opens in a new window). Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.

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Best data visualization tools for excel