data stream solutions tools for network documentation and information management : netViz

data-driven graphics

product information

products

data-embedded graphics

relationship modeling

data-driven graphics

connecting to databases

web-publishing projects

api

Our goal is to allow you to create hierarchical, data-rich diagrams that convey data graphically. If you need to go beyond your netViz diagrams to get more information about your model, workflow or network, then we haven't done our job.

We think you'll find netViz's data-driven graphics to be a fantastic way to visualize your data. With data-driven graphics, you can set objects and links in your netViz diagrams to reflect user-specified data values by their appearance alone. Network managers could, for example, set the thickness of links to indicate bandwidth and link color to indicate type of connection. And the way an object looks isn't static, it's a reflection of underlying data. If you change the data values, the object's appearance automatically changes. By linking data-driven objects to a database, you can truly "see" your data in ways that just aren't possible with rows and columns of numbers or conventional diagramming tools.

A netViz object's appearance can be set to reflect data values in four different ways, and settings are entirely up to you. For example, a workflow object could be set so that color indicates the department the process belongs to, outline color indicates whether the process has been reviewed, and outline thickness shows the process's importance. In the conceptual-design context, you could make link color show what effect one process has on another and show the size of the impact by link thickness. By simply looking at your diagrams, you could easily see where the design team's efforts should be focused.

Data-driven graphics are especially powerful when they’re linked to external databases. By doing a simple refresh of your netViz diagrams from linked databases, your diagrams will graphically display up-to-date information. For example, you could get a quick assessment of proposed changes by making modifications in a project database and seeing how they change the look of your diagrams. Linking a network-management tool to netViz diagrams can allow you to see the status of nodes and links throughout a complex network.