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Choosing Plugins for your needs

Four plugins are introduced here for time series visualization: Range Slider, Thematic Slider, Charting Tools, and Swiper. They are for different purposes:

  • Range Slider and Thematic Slider are for the creation of map animations;
  • Charting Tools are for visualization of time series data available on specific sites on a map; and
  • Swiper is for the detection of changes over a period of time.

Multiple factors determine the choice of a plugin for your needs:

  • The structure of data is the key determinant to plugin choice.

    • If your time series data in your dataset is presented on fixed locations (such as monitoring sites or watersheds) utilizing linked tables, the charting tool is your choice;

    • Otherwise, time series animation may be the way to go, using either Range Slider or Thematic Slider. Deciding between them comes down to the data structure of the dataset:

      • If your data a single layer present with a valid date/time field, the Range Slider is the best option; and
      • If the data is composed of multiple layers each corresponding to a valid time, then the Thematic Slider would be the better choice.

  • The number of time points in the time series is another factor to consider

    • When using the map-based Charting Tool
      • Choose Line Chart if the time series data includes values of many time points
      • Otherwise, Bar Chart would be a better choice;
    • If there are three or more time series layers, create an animation using Range Slider or Thematic Slider (see above for choice);
    • If there are only two layers representing two points/periods of time, using Swiper.

  • The compatibility of plugins with the source map services determines the feasibility of a plugin for your data.

This information is summarized in Table 1 for reference

Table 1: Choosing the plugins for your needs