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Improving the Data Customer’s Ability to Visualize Historical Agricultural Data at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (303558)

Keywords: dissemination, visualization, animation, sparklines, small multiples

This paper discusses data visualization concepts, methods and technologies in either the planning or implementation phase at the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) designed to enhance the ability of NASS' data customers to use any current web browser or mobile device to find historical data of interest, make desired comparisons, and see important trends across variables in a way not possible with static charts and tables alone. The visualizations discussed and presented include 1) animations which depict changes over time, 2) “sparklines”, and map galleries, employed in small multiples to effectively display large amounts of data on a single web page or mobile device screen, and 3) interactive charts and graphics to enable data customers to drill down and focus on more detailed views of the data.

While this paper focuses on agricultural data at the state and county level, the principles and methods can be applied to other sources of survey and census data.