Maps and charts were among the earliest forms of data visualization. One of the most well-known early examples of data visualization was a flow map created by French civil engineer Charles Joseph ...

Data visualization is a process in data analytics ... In a sales order, for example, customer name, product identifier and order type are nominal or categorical data; payment terms and delivery ...

Examples include Visual.ly, Tableau, Vizify, D3.js, R, and myriad others.” For Simon, data visualization is the necessary ingredient in bringing the power of Big Data to the mainstream.

Data visualization in VR and AR could be the next big use case for the technologies. It's early days, but examples of 3D data visualizations hint at big changes to come in how we interact with data.