I need help figuring out a starting level project for Data Visualization. Do you think just making some random project that doesn't actually use accurate or realistic data is a good way to start? I have been working on something here at bl.ocks because I really like space and whatnot (also, this just practice, no need to critique it unless there is a huge flaw). It is simply a simulator of planetary orbits around the sun, even though it is not scaled appropriately. However, it got me started with understanding D3 and its syntax. But, I feel like that is just more about getting an idea of what D3 can do. Even though that is a rather interesting start, I would really like to understand on how to approach the exploratory analysis process.
I am just unsure how to approach the problem at hand. Do you just look at some data and figure out how to make a story for it? I am new, so I apologize for advance for something so trivial, however, I felt that this would be a great community pose the problem and arrive to a rather good conclusion.
I would gladly like to hear from everyone with their opinions and advice.
D3 can basically do anything ranging from 3d data visualizations to graphically representing data.
Also, d3 uses a lot of SVG techniques.
If you are looking to understand what all can be built out with d3, take a look at the below link: https://github.com/mbostock/d3/wiki/Gallery
The best way to approach would be figuring out 3-4 components you can build out like below: - Word Cloud - A Graph component - Tree Map Structre - World Map Once you prototype it, you can tweak the prototype to connect to some dummy JSOn data through Ajax.
Hope this helps.!!