--- a/index.md +++ b/index.md @@ -1,7 +1,8 @@ #GovHack Toolkit Welcome to the GovHack toolkit. This page provides all the information you need to prepare hackfest entries. -These tools can be used to make entries like: mobile apps, web apps, data visualisations/infographics. -This toolkit is open source, licenced cc-by and improvements are encouraged ... +These tools can be used to make entries like mobile apps, web apps and data visualisations/infographics. + +The text of this toolkit is open for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution licence and improvements are encouraged via Git http://github.com/maxious/govhack-tools or via email patches to govhack@lambdacomplex.org # How to register and submit your entry ## Registering your team @@ -19,8 +20,6 @@ # General References {#general-data-hacking-and-programming-references} -## Who can be a hack day participant -There are many roles you can play; coder, designer UX/graphics. ## The basics of being a data scientist @@ -42,20 +41,20 @@ **Statistics** -[http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) + +A great guide to statistics is +[Think Stats](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html) **Programming** Programming is valuable skill for manipulating and displaying data. -Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn - -interactively with websites like [http://www.codecademy.com/](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0). for JavaScript or [http://www.learnpython.org/ ](http://www.learnpython.org/)or [http://tryruby.org](http://tryruby.org/) - -[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) - especially for web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JS. Common libraries like prototype or jQuery can help +Basic tutorials for a variety of languages are available for free online or you can learn interactively with websites like [Codecademy for JavaScript](http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0), [Learn Python](http://www.learnpython.org/) or [Try Ruby](http://tryruby.org/) + +For web applications and visualisations, you'll need a basic understanding of JavaScript in order to configure pre made libraries like jQuery. A good source for Javascript information is the [Mozilla Development Network Javascript Page](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript) **Accessibility/User Experience** -WCAG guidelines not only make a web app accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/) +Following accessibility guidelines not only make a application accessible but make it a better experience for all users! Even if not making an app, good to consider these things to do and not do when designing for humans: [http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/) @@ -63,19 +62,15 @@ No matter what kind of application you have for the data, there are many tools you can use to better collaborate and manage your project. ### Source Control - Git / Subversion +Using a version control system like Git or Subversion allows you to keep many different versions of what you have been working on so you can collaborate with others or simply back up your files so you don't lose them! [](http://progit.org/book/) -[http://progit.org/book/](http://progit.org/book/) - -[http://svnbook.red-bean.com/](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/) - -[http://tortoisesvn.net/](http://tortoisesvn.net/) - -[http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/) - -### Task Tracking - +There are [tutorials on git](http://progit.org/book/) and [GUIs to help you](http://code.google.com/p/tortoisegit/) +There is also a [manual for Subversion](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/) and a [similar GUI for Subversion](http://tortoisesvn.net/) + + +### Task Tracking Issue/task trackers allow you to outline the tasks required for your project and assign them to people to do. @@ -83,10 +78,10 @@ ## Hosted Developer Tools {#hosted-developer-tools} -Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so no setup required. +Can get many tools (source control, issue tracking) combined into one service cloud hosted so there's no setup required. ### Github -Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are possible. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use the variety of Git capable tools +Git obviously but svn/hg interfaces are also available. Provide their own GUI for Windows/OSX or use a variety of Git capable tools ### Sourceforge @@ -99,6 +94,7 @@ Git, Mercurial, and Subversion code. Issue tracker, wiki, release file downloads. Unlimited free use for open source projects. You can host your Google Code project and get access to developer tools, APIs and documentation at [http://code.google.com/](http://code.google.com/) + # Applications of data hacking @@ -121,12 +117,13 @@ Atlassian have a great page on what makes a good API https://developer.atlassian.com/display/REST/Atlassian+REST+API+Design+Guidelines+version+1) -howto.gov api resources about choosing SOAP vs. REST etc. http://www.howto.gov/mobile/apis-in-government - -API documentation is important too. - - WSDL or http://swagger.wordnik.com/ or https://github.com/mashery/iodocs - - Many web app frameworks can generate the documentation for you. For example Symfony for PHPhttp://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle - - or for Rails https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails +HowTo.gov has a bunch of api resources about choosing SOAP vs. REST etc. http://www.howto.gov/mobile/apis-in-government + +API documentation is important too! Traditionally for SOAP APIs, you use WSDL but for REST try [Swagger](http://swagger.wordnik.com/) or [iodocs](https://github.com/mashery/iodocs) +Many web app frameworks can generate the documentation for you. For example Symfony for PHP http://symfony.com/ https://github.com/FriendsOfSymfony/FOSRestBundle http://williamdurand.fr/2012/08/02/rest-apis-with-symfony2-the-right-way/ https://github.com/nelmio/NelmioApiDocBundle +Or for Ruby on Rails there is is https://github.com/elc/rapi_doc https://github.com/Pajk/apipie-rails + + better apis https://github.com/liip/LiipHelloBundle http://amberonrails.com/building-stripes-api/ @@ -141,34 +138,29 @@ You can find some data visualisation tools below: -[http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/](http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/) - +[Essential Colletion](http://www.visualisingdata.com/index.php/2011/07/part-6-the-essential-collection-of-visualisation-resources/) + [Drawing By Numbers Tools and Resources](http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources) + - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog Also check out [http://thejit.org](http://thejit.org/) & [http://www.senchalabs.org/<wbr>philogl/</wbr>](http://www.senchalabs.org/philogl/) (contributed by Matt Adcock) -Have to use visual art concepts, good color schemes http://www.r-bloggers.com/the-paul-tol-21-color-salute/ - - - - https://graphics.stanford.edu/wikis/cs448b-12-fall/ data viz theory - - http://drawingbynumbers.org/toolsandresources - -examples - http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/ -## The Open Budget - -tools - http://selection.datavisualization.ch/ data viz tools catalog +A good infographic should use visual art concepts and [good color schemes](http://www.r-bloggers.com/the-paul-tol-21-color-salute/) +For more information on the theory of data visualisation check out the (Stanford CS448B notes)[https://graphics.stanford.edu/wikis/cs448b-12-fall/] + +Some examples of data visualisation can be seen on [the Sunlight Foundation tumblr](http://sunfoundation.tumblr.com/) or at the GovHack alumn [The Open Budget](http://www/.theopenbudget.org) + ## Web Applications With the rise of HTML5 technologies it is easier than ever to make a web application for engaging use of data. - - - css framework like bootstrap or zurb foundation -- css gauges http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/ -- bootstrap themes, web fonts, css sprites, icon fonts - - http://designmodo.com/flat-free/ http://designmodo.github.com/Flat-UI/ +It's easy to quickly make a good looking and accessible webpage if you use a CSS framework like Bootstrap or Zurb Foundation. +There are a variety of bootstrap themes like [Flat-UI](http://designmodo.com/flat-free/) + +Check out the visualisation tools listed in the data sections for web application tools like these [CSS Dashboard gauges](http://www.larentis.eu/donuts/) ### Examples -## PlanningAlerts +#### PlanningAlerts [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_2f0199ff1.png)Description: Planning Alerts takes data from local government development applications and sends alerts to users based on what applications are lodged in their area. @@ -178,7 +170,7 @@ Issue Tracking: [Atlassian JIRA](http://tickets.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/browse/PA/) -## LobbyLens +#### LobbyLens [](img/129-Screenshot-LobbyClue_-_Chromium.png) @@ -190,7 +182,7 @@ Issue Tracking: A whiteboard -## bus.lambdacomplex.org +#### bus.lambdacomplex.org [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_3789acae.jpg) @@ -204,38 +196,42 @@ ## Mobile -FRameworks, http://www.sencha.com/products/touch http://phonegap.com/ http://cordova.apache.org/ - -bom water, -nz gov budget -html5 jquery mobile like directory.gov.au - - - android datviz - - http://code.google.com/p/afreechart/ http://code.google.com/p/snowdon/ http://code.google.com/p/chartdroid/ http://androidplot.com/ http://code.google.com/p/achartengine/ - +If you want to get stared quickly with mobile application development, it's worth considering cross platform frameworks like http://www.sencha.com/products/touch http://phonegap.com/ http://cordova.apache.org/ + +For a simple mobile app, a web application with a framewrok like jQuery Mobile can work quite well (as used on directory.gov.au) + +For data visualisation, there are a variety of graph widgets http://code.google.com/p/afreechart/ http://code.google.com/p/snowdon/ http://code.google.com/p/chartdroid/ http://androidplot.com/ http://code.google.com/p/achartengine/ + +You may wish to consider backend frameworks like http://helios.io/ or https://www.parse.com/ + +### Examples + +Bureau of Meteorology Water Storage App http://icelab.com.au/work/bureau-of-meteorology/ + +NZ Gov budget http://www.treasury.govt.nz/budget/app # Geographical Data Tools {#geographical-data-tools} -Check out the[ GeoRabble Boundary Mapper's Cookbook](http://georabble.org/2012/05/31/the-boundary-mappers-cookbook/) to see how you can tie all these things together! +Check out the [GeoRabble Boundary Mapper's Cookbook](http://georabble.org/2012/05/31/the-boundary-mappers-cookbook/) to see how you can tie all these things together! + ## Key datasets - - base layers like agri http://agri.openstreetmap.org/, http://irs.gis-lab.info/ wms or http://www.gdal.org/frmt_wms_openstreetmap_tms.xml - ASGS including suburbs/postcodes - - andrewharvey4.wordpress.com postgis/asgs tutorial +There are a variety of base layers like AGRI aerial imagery of Australia http://agri.openstreetmap.org/ or WMS services like http://irs.gis-lab.info/ wms or http://www.gdal.org/frmt_wms_openstreetmap_tms.xml + +ASGS from ABS including suburbs/postcodes andrewharvey4.wordpress.com postgis/asgs tutorial +You can also get KML layers for various statistical measures on the ABS TableBuilder tool. + ## Wrangling ### Converting -There are many spatial data formats and often the one your tool requires is not the one the dataset is provided in -Online - - http://converter.mygeodata.eu/vector kml exporter for shp -or locally using GDAL - -### geocoding -cloudmade, google (but you must display on a Google Map). - -Easiest way to do is with a Google Spreadsheet/Fusion Table http://williamparry.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/putting-data-into-google-fusion-tables.htm http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/1012281?hl=en&ref_topic=2592806 - +There are many spatial data formats and often the one your tool requires is not the one the dataset is provided in. +You can convert spatial datasets online with http://converter.mygeodata.eu/vector or locally using GDAL (which better for >10 megabyte datasets) + +### Geocoding +Google Maps APIs allow you to convert an address to map co-ordinates (geocoding) but you must display on a Google Map. The easiest way to do is with a Google Spreadsheet/Fusion Table http://williamparry.blogspot.com.au/2011/04/putting-data-into-google-fusion-tables.htm http://support.google.com/fusiontables/answer/1012281?hl=en&ref_topic=2592806 + +If you need geocoding for more than display (working out the distance between points etc) or you don't want to use Google Maps, Cloudmade offers free OpenStreetMap based geocoding http://developers.cloudmade.com/projects/show/geocoding-http-api ## Analysis @@ -251,6 +247,7 @@ ## Visualisation ### Layar and other augmented reality tools +[Layar](http://www.layar.com/) provides a platform for exploring a dataset by travelling to the actual locations of the data and looking through a smartphone. Custom markers (2D or 3D) seem to float in the air and can be clicked on for more information. You can even trigger an event like playing music when within a certain range of a location. ### Google Fusion Tables/ChartsBin/[OpenHeatMap](http://www.openheatmap.com/) @@ -260,9 +257,8 @@ ### [Cartographer.js](http://cartographer.visualmotive.com/) -[](img/cartographerjs.png)Input data as JSON and maps are produced. -See also d3 maps. - - http://bost.ocks.org/mike/map/ +[](img/cartographerjs.png)Input data as JSON and interactive maps are produced. +You can also try d3 maps: http://bost.ocks.org/mike/map/ ### OpenLayers/Google Maps/[Leaflet](http://leaflet.cloudmade.com/) @@ -270,6 +266,8 @@ [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_512fcbe1.jpg)Display points and different layers. Leaflet is the easiest to use if you just want to show points with popups when clicked on. There are wrappers for Google maps like http://hpneo.github.com/gmaps/examples.html and Mapstraction that can make it easier to use too. +If you need to customise the base map, try TileMill. + ### NASA World Wind/Google Earth [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_4dda24a4.jpg)Google Earth provides 3\. viewing of KML/GML files which represent points and shapes, both through a desktop application and a web plugin. These can be extended with interactive features that allow you to view by timeline or have animated tours between different points. You can also develop and customise your own viewer with the open source [NASA World Wind toolkit.](http://goworldwind.org/demos/) @@ -280,9 +278,7 @@ ## Wrangling -Converting formats json/xml/csv etc. - - http://shancarter.com/data_converter/ - +Converting between formats like json/xml or csv can be done online with http://shancarter.com/data_converter/ Tabular data may have duplicate entries or incorrect formats (varying ways to enter dates/phonenumbers etc.). There are tools to quickly fix common problems @@ -290,16 +286,13 @@ [](img/google_refine_interface.png)Clean up duplicate or inconsistent data entries. -Can also use general purpose tools; grep/awk/sed -regex http://www.regexper.com/ http://www.debuggex.com/?re=&str= +You can also use general purpose file manipulation tools like grep/awk/sed. These work best when you instruct them what search/change you need using Regular Expressions (RegEx) which you can learn more about at http://www.regexper.com/ and http://www.debuggex.com/?re=&str= ## Analysis ### Excel / Google Docs -Great basic analysis and viewing. Older versions can be limited to 6500\. or so rows. Eg [http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474](http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474) - -http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/ +Great basic analysis and viewing but older versions can be limited to 6500 rows. Eg [http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474](http://www.tcij.org/training-material/car/data-mining/3474) or [http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/](http://training.sunlightfoundation.com/module/data-visualizations-google-docs/) ### PostgreSQL/MySQL @@ -307,15 +300,21 @@ ### R Statistical Language -[](img/rstudio-windows.png)Advanced data analysis, can find and visualise trends in large datasets. Some reference resources to learn the language [http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html ](http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html)There are also some addons that provide graphical interfaces that make it easier to use such as Rattle [http://rattle.togaware.com/](http://rattle.togaware.com/) , RStudio [http://rstudio.org/](http://rstudio.org/) or Deducer [http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual](http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual) - - - http://blog.yhathq.com/posts/10-R-packages-I-wish-I-knew-about-earlier.html - - excel -> R/rattle/ deducer? http://www.r-bloggers.com/updates-to-the-deducer-family-of-packages/ - - http://www.twotorials.com/ for R - - http://www.r-bloggers.com/gradient-word-clouds/ http://www.rstudio.com/shiny/ http://blog.ouseful.info/2012/11/28/quick-shiny-demo-exploring-nhs-winter-sit-rep-data/ https://github.com/timelyportfolio/shiny-d3-plot https://github.com/trestletech/shiny-sandbox/tree/master/grn - - http://www.r-bloggers.com/video-simpler-tricks-and-tools-help-debugging-git-latex-and-workflow-with-r-by-prof-rob-hyndman/ - - http://yihui.name/knitr/ makes reports including google widgets/charts/maps via http://www.r-bloggers.com/googlevis-0-3-2-is-released-better-integration-with-knitr/ - - http://chartsnthings.tumblr.com/post/36978271916/r-tutorial-simple-charts http://flowingdata.com/2012/12/17/getting-started-with-charts-in-r/ +[](img/rstudio-windows.png) +R provides a platform for advanced data analysis which can find and visualise trends even in large datasets. Some reference resources to learn the language [http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html ](http://cran.r-project.org/doc/manuals/R-intro.html)There are also some addons that provide graphical interfaces that make it easier to use such as Rattle [http://rattle.togaware.com/](http://rattle.togaware.com/) , RStudio [http://rstudio.org/](http://rstudio.org/) or Deducer [http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual](http://www.deducer.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.DeducerManual) + + R's value lies in the wide array of libraries and addons you can use. For example [BigVis](http://blog.revolutionanalytics.com/2013/04/visualize-large-data-sets-with-the-bigvis-package.html) lets you visualise 10 Million data points in 5 seconds on an ordinary computer. + Be sure to checkout the list of ["10 R packages I wish I knew about earlier"](http://blog.yhathq.com/puosts/10-R-packages-I-wish-I-knew-about-earlier.html) + +ggplot2 is the typical graphical output of R and is very powerful. See these tutorials for instructions: http://chartsnthings.tumblr.com/post/36978271916/r-tutorial-simple-charts http://flowingdata.com/2012/12/17/getting-started-with-charts-in-r/ +You can do some very creative plotting for example [putting pictures of Pokemon where their power level is on an X/Y axis](http://www.r-bloggers.com/to-plot-them-is-my-real-test/) + +To share your analysis with the world you can use [KnittR](http://yihui.name/knitr/) which to make reports. These can include google widgets/charts/maps with the [googlevis](http://www.r-bloggers.com/googlevis-0-3-2-is-released-better-integration-with-knitr/) package. + + For advanced interactive visualisation you can use [Shiny](http://www.rstudio.com/shiny/) which allows visitors to you page to adjust the R charts. + Examples of Shiny use include: + http://blog.ouseful.info/2012/11/28/quick-shiny-demo-exploring-nhs-winter-sit-rep-data/ https://github.com/timelyportfolio/shiny-d3-plot https://github.com/trestletech/shiny-sandbox/tree/master/grn + ## Visualisation @@ -324,67 +323,63 @@ Create visualisations from various data formats by dragging and dropping. Free trial available on website. [](img/Tableau-Screenshot.jpg) -### [Flotr2](http://www.humblesoftware.com/flotr2/)/[Google Chart Tools](https://developers.google.com/chart/) - +### Web page (Javascript) graphs +[Flotr2](http://www.humblesoftware.com/flotr2/)/[Google Chart Tools](https://developers.google.com/chart/) [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m11006fce.jpg)Javascript based charts for webpages. +http://www.polychartjs.com/ Allows facetting and easy use of JSON data sets. ### D3.js (Data-Driven Documents) [](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m90d8020.jpg)Javascript visualisations that are more interactive or intricate than charts. Can be hard to learn but there are examples and easier to use premade visualisations such as [word clouds](http://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/), [realtime filtering of barcharts](http://square.github.com/crossfilter/), or [bubble trees for comparing amount sizes](https://github.com/okfn/bubbletree). -d3 - - http://datadrivenjournalism.net/resources/data_driven_documents_defined - - http://www.benmcmahen.com/blog/posts/50eb57d55a94d35262000001 d3 svg - - d3 tools and tutorial http://enjalot.com/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4608440 - - Why d3 is the way it is and how to make charts http://bost.ocks.org/mike/chart/ - - how to make an xkcd chart http://bl.ocks.org/3914862 +See these tutorials to get started: http://datadrivenjournalism.net/resources/data_driven_documents_defined http://bost.ocks.org/mike/chart/ + ### Processing.js # Unstructured (Text) Data Tools -Most of thw world's dat isn't structured because it is contained in documents (webpages, tweets etc.). Sometimes it is possible to structure it, sometimes there are tools that are better suited it unstructured data. -## wrangling -Scraperwiki pytemplate scrapy -regex - -## analysing - - opennlp/nltk / https://github.com/clips/pattern - - lucene/solr - - http://www.r-bloggers.com/simple-text-mining-with-r/ - - http://blog.josephwilk.net/ruby/latent-semantic-analysis-in-ruby.html similar terms usually found together - -## visualising - -Overviewer/ Jigsaw -http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ii/jigsaw/ - -http://www.jasondavies.com/wordtree/ +Most of the world's data isn't structured because it is contained in documents (webpages, tweets etc.). Sometimes it is possible to structure it, sometimes there are tools that are better suited it unstructured data. +## Wrangling +For extracting data from webpages, checkout Scraperwiki pytemplate scrapy + +PDFs - http://source.mozillaopennews.org/en-US/articles/introducing-tabula/ for text PDFs or http://www.reporterslab.org/dochive/ for images (common in scanned document PDFs) + +If there is no way to form a table structure to be able to apply tabular data techniques , you need a more sophisticated analysis as detailed below. + +## Analysing +Natural Language Processing libraries like OpenNLP for Java or NLTK / [Pattern](https://github.com/clips/pattern) for Python allow you to extract information from text. +One of the most useful techniques found in these libraries is Named entity recognition which extracts the subjects named in a piece of text. + +A search engine just for your dataset can also help. Tools like Apache Lucene/Solr or ElasticSearch can help you index and search large datasets in new ways. + +For light weight analysis, try R or Ruby: http://www.r-bloggers.com/simple-text-mining-with-r/ http://blog.josephwilk.net/ruby/latent-semantic-analysis-in-ruby.html + +## Visualising + +You can make word trees of blocks of text, webpages or twitter account and share them http://www.jasondavies.com/wordtree/ + +"Overview automatically sorts thousands of documents into topics and sub-topics, by reading the full text of each one." Simply make a CSV file with two columns, id and text. 10,000 documents is a good limit for the current state of the system. https://www.overviewproject.org/ + +For larger document sets or for alternative visualisations, try Jigsaw a desktop based application. http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ii/jigsaw/ + + # Graph (relationships and networks) Data Tools {#graph-relationships-and-networks-data-tools} - - - http://www.slideshare.net/OReillyStrata/visualizing-networks-beyond-the-hairball - - http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-554179-622011.html SNA tools catalog - - https://github.com/jacomyal/osdc2012-sigmajs-demo sigmajs filtering/searching - +Graph data can be very valuable for finding communities, hubs and connections between entities (the 6 degrees of separation). This is through the techniques of Social Network Analysis. ## Analysis ### R - +http://www.slideshare.net/ianmcook/social-network-analysis-in-r - http://is-r.tumblr.com/post/38240018815/making-prettier-network-graphs-with-sna-and-igraph ### Graph Databases -[](img/webadmin-data.png)Help understand relationships - how is X connected to Y and via what other entities they both are connected to. Imports and exports - - - http://www.slideshare.net/maxdemarzi/etl-into-neo4j - http://blog.neo4j.org/2013/03/importing-data-into-neo4j-spreadsheet.html - -http://www.orientdb.org/ - -http://thinkaurelius.github.com/titan/ - -Major graph databases like theese can be accessed using a common tool like Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser. +[](img/webadmin-data.png)Help understand relationships - how is X connected to Y and via what other entities they both are connected to. +Imports and exports can be done by [writing a java program](http://www.slideshare.net/maxdemarzi/etl-into-neo4j) or [spreadsheet](http://blog.neo4j.org/2013/03/importing-data-into-neo4j-spreadsheet.html) + +There are other graph databases worth considering like [OrientDB](http://www.orientdb.org/) or [Titan](http://thinkaurelius.github.com/titan/) +Major graph databases like these can be accessed using a common syntax called Gremlin or by writing a simple Java/Python/Ruby application. Queries can be tested in the built in data browser. @@ -394,15 +389,22 @@ NetworkX is a social network analysis library for python. Many advanced analyses built in like finding communities within a graph. Also good for converting data into graphs. +See this [introduction to Social Network Analysis with NetworkX](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~cm542/teaching/2011/stna-pdfs/stna-lecture11.pdf) + ## Visualisation + +Proper visualisation of networks can be hard as described in this presentation [Visualising Networks: Beyond the Hairball](http://www.slideshare.net/OReillyStrata/visualizing-networks-beyond-the-hairball) + ### Tree/Hierarchy visualisation -Sometimes what you actually have is a tree/hierarchy with no interconnections. - http://www.randelshofer.ch/treeviz/ http://thejit.org/demos/ http://mbostock.github.com/protovis/ex/treemap.html http://blog.pixelingene.com/2011/07/building-a-tree-diagram-in-d3-js/d3 for Trees and Hierarchies - http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/pack.html http://mbostock.github.com/d3/ex/tree.html +Sometimes when you analyse a network what you actually have is a tree/hierarchy with no interconnections. +In these cases, it's faster and more visually effective to use a Tree visualisation. +You can run [TreeViz](http://www.randelshofer.ch/treeviz/) locally or use [d3 on a website](http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4063550), [step by step instructions for creating tree data for d3](http://blog.pixelingene.com/2011/07/building-a-tree-diagram-in-d3-js/) +d3 also includes [treemaps - bubbles inside bubbles](http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/4063530) ### NodeXL for Microsoft Excel - - http://nodexl.codeplex.com/ network graphs for excel +[](img/ExcelWindow.png) + [NodeXL](http://nodexl.codeplex.com/) allows you to visualise networks/graphs quickly inside Excel. ### [Graphviz](http://www.graphviz.org/) @@ -414,5 +416,5 @@ ### [sigma.js](http://sigmajs.org/) -[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6006eaf3.jpg)Javascript graph viewer, can use GEXF files exported from tools like neo4j, gephi and NetworkX. - +[](img/How-to-participate-in-GovHack_html_m6006eaf3.jpg)Javascript graph viewer for displaying graphs on webpages without any other plugins/applications required. It can use GEXF files exported from tools like neo4j, gephi or NetworkX. + It's also possible to [filter/search the displayed network in sigma.js](https://github.com/jacomyal/osdc2012-sigmajs-demo)