Friedman (2008) the "main goal of data visualization is to communicate information clearly and effectively through graphical means.

process of looking at and summarizing data with the intent to extract useful information and develop conclusions.

data is produced at unprecedented rates.

ability to analyze these data volumes increases at much lower pace.

leads to new challenges in the analysis process, since analysts, decision makers, engineers, or emergency response teams depend on information "concealed" in the data.

Most of the analysis methods in use today are highly automated due to the enormous size of the collected data.

presents interactive visualization as an alternative and effective data exploration method for understanding the complex behaviors of computer network systems.

making it easy to carry interactive, visual representations of data wherever one goes.

Capturing and visualizing student data may enable teachers to make better decisions about what and how to teach.

New apps for mobiles place data visualization in the palm of one's hand

facilitates human-data interaction by highlighting patterns, anomalies and alert conditions in reporting views...tables of data ready for human consumption.

Some of these tools, such as Visokio Omniscope, are powerful hybrid desktop/web visualisation clients that can replace spreadsheets, presentation packages like PowerPoint, and create portable, reusable data files anyone can access, navigate and filter using a free viewer.

enables data to be interpreted holistically by exposing contextually meanful attributes of the data set such as patterns, trends, structure, and exceptions.