JavaScript and jQuery for Data Analysis and Visualization

Chapter 15Building an Interconnected Dashboard

What's In This Chapter

• Pulling data from the U.S. Census API
• Rendering Census data with Google Charts
• Styling the chart dashboard responsively
• Connecting the components with Backbone

CODE DOWNLOAD The wrox.com code downloads for this chapter are found at www.wrox.com/go/javascriptandjqueryanalysis on the Download Code tab. The code is in the chapter 15 download and individually named according to the names throughout the chapter.

With this chapter, you create an interactive dashboard that charts U.S. census data. You start by exploring the Census API and learn how to overcome its many challenges. Next you render static charts from this data using Google Charts. You create visualizations for a variety of data:

• Demographic data for sex and race

• Housing data

• Population growth and age breakdowns

After creating the charts, you then integrate them into an interconnected dashboard. You start by styling the dashboard responsively and then integrate form controls to translate user input into rendered changes on the screen. In the end, you'll have created a simple Backbone app that renders complex data.

The U.S. Census API

In recent years, the U.S. government has been releasing a variety of public APIs for governmental data. Collected at www.data.gov, these APIs provide a variety of useful data sets. Notably, the Census API offers a wealth of intricate demographic information about U.S. residents.

To get started with ...