Interactive Graphical Visualizations with SVG

Chapter 12

Interactive Graphical Visualizations with SVG

IN THIS CHAPTER

•        Vector Graphics to Complement Bitmap Graphics

• SVG: An XML Standard for Vector Graphics

•        Creating an Interactive Graphical Visualization

•        SVG Structure and Elements

• Development Primer

• The Future of SVG

In the information age, we are growing to depend on being able to quickly and accu-rately identify relevant information and make good decisions based on it. Nowhere is this more true than on the Internet, where there is a veritable sea of information we are only beginning to harness the power of. An often quoted rule of thumb is that making a good decision involves 90 percent presentation and only 10 percent interpretation. One of the most effective ways of presenting information in a form that can be rapidly assimilated is graphically—thus the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” We are all familiar with the bitmap GIF and JPEG images, which are already pervasive across the Internet. Although bitmap graphics are powerful and appropriate for certain types of applications (in particular, photographs), they are not appropriate for many of the uses for which they are currently employed, due in part to primitive support for graphics in the early stages of the growth of the Web. Vector graphics, on the other hand, is a powerful, well-estab-lished type of graphical representation that is complementary to bitmap graphics. This chapter introduces, discusses, and demonstrates how a new vector graphics language called Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) may be used to deliver powerful new interactive business applications. This chapter shows how SVG, an XML vector graphics standard, may be used to visualize and make sense of any type of XML content (for example, over the Web). Beyond simply showing the ability to apply SVG as an alternative graphics presentation language, this chapter shows how the power of SVG may be rapidly and easily applied to visualize and make sense of a sea of XML data in a variety of XML formats.

In this chapter you will learn

   The differences between bitmap and vector graphics and how they complement each other

   The SVG implementation of vector graphics, including the standard, structure, and elements

   How to develop interactive graphical applications that visualize XML data using

SVG

   About future SVG developments