How To Use Google Charts In JavaScript

The increasing pressure on businesses to continuously innovate has made data invaluable today. Moreover, the sheer volume of data businesses produce makes big data technologies critical for better analysis and data-driven decision-making. Data visualization tools like JavaScript charts are becoming increasingly popular in this space, with ‘how to use Google charts in JavaScript’ being one of the most searched terms today. In this article, we’ll learn how to use Google charts in JavaScript. We’ll discuss a better alternative JavaScript chart and how it compares to Google Charts. Let’s get started!

What Is Google Charts?

Google Charts is a free Google-powered and actively supported JavaScript charting service. Its easy-to-use workflow allows you to quickly visualize data on your applications. Google Charts’ extensive customization options, and rich chart library, make it a viable option for small and large-scale data visualization. This chart gallery contains some unique chart types, such as:

• Gantt chart
• Donut chart
• Diff chart
• Bubble chart
• Tree Map charts

Unlike some less competent chart libraries, Google Charts supports a variety of devices (iPhones, iPads, and Android). Its HTML and SVG rendering ensures this capability, alongside cross-platform support (including VML for older IE versions). In other words, your users can easily access your charts without needing additional plugins. Plus, you have the luxury of providing users with what they need, when and where they need it. Interestingly, Google Charts houses all this functionality in its 43KB minified and gzipped version. This makes it one of the smallest JavaScript chart libraries in size, and a great option where overall application size is a concern. The perfect use case for Google Charts is as a quick data visualization solution for your website, where customization is not needed, and maintaining the overall application size is a priority.

What Are The Steps To Use Google Charts In JavaScript?

Using JavaScript is the most common approach to data visualization with Google Charts. Here’s a summarized version of the steps, per Google charts docs.

1. Load some Google Chart libraries

You can load Google Chart libraries by including these lines of code in the head of your webpage. https://www.gstatic.com/charts/loader.js <script> google.charts.load(‘current’, {packages: [‘corechart’]}); google.charts.setOnLoadCallback(drawChart); … </script> Note that this example displays a corechart (bar, column, line, area, stepped area, bubble, pie, donut, combo, candlestick, histogram, scatter). You can refer to Google Charts’ documentation pages for the appropriate package name for a different chart type.

2. Prepare the data to be charted

To list the data you want to visualize using Google Charts, you need to create a data table. This table must be wrapped in a JavaScript class called google.visualization.DataTable. Here’s an example from the Google Chart docs: // Create the data table. var data = new google.visualization.DataTable(); data.addColumn(‘string’, ‘Topping’); data.addColumn(‘number’, ‘Slices’); data.addRows([ [‘Mushrooms’, 3], [‘Onions’, 1], [‘Olives’, 1], [‘Zucchini’, 1], [‘Pepperoni’, 2] ]);

3. Select options to customize your chart

To specify your chart options – for example, thickness, color, and more – define a JavaScript object with option_name/option_value properties. The chart’s documentation provides option names for each chart type.

4. Instantiate and draw your chart

You can instantiate using the JavaScript class of the chart you want. For example, google.visualization.PieChart. Note that the piechart is included in the corechart package. For a different chart type like tree map, you need to load the corresponding package.

5. Create a <div> with that id to display the Google Chart on the web page.

What Is A Better Way To Visualize Data?

While Google Charts is a decent JavaScript chart library, it is more of a quick solution. In other words, it’s great for building a treehouse rather than an actual building. What happens when you’re building a complex project that requires customization? FusionCharts is a JavaScript chart library that’s great for all project types – simple or complex. Following are some of its features.

Customization Options

Most importantly, your viewers should easily understand your charts and graphs. This is why you must add titles, labels, and legends to your charts. Your charts should also include trend lines to highlight important landmarks within your data. Next, your users should be able to switch between numbers or values on your graph. FusionCharts provides all these customizable features to make your charts even easier to interpret. With FusionCharts, you can even drill down endlessly for deeper insights.

Interactivity

Interactivity is another key to making charts easy to understand and interpret. Many data visualization tools, however, don’t offer this feature. Instead, they produce static, image-based charts. FusionCharts, on the other hand, supports all types of user interactions. For example, you can show and hide data series in column charts, create drag and drop charts, and zoom in and out to see more data points with scrolling charts. In FusionCharts, there are many different interactive features you can incorporate.

Time-Series Charts

Time-series charts are very useful, especially when you want to display data points over successive time intervals. These charts are also helpful for presenting how key metrics change over time. In this way, time-series charts help you identify and highlight trends in your data. FusionCharts provides powerful time series charts that you can use to visualize thousands of data points. Some practical applications include tracking a sensor in an IoT app or displaying fluctuations in price over time in a financial app.

Real-Time Charts

Real-time data visualization is critical to the success of any business. That is why a good data visualization tool like FusionCharts comes with data streaming charts or real-time charts. These charts update after a specified number of seconds by automatically fetching data from the server. In addition, they don’t require manual page refreshes.

Which JavaScript Chart Library Is the Best Option?

FusionCharts is an obvious superior and smarter choice over Google Charts. Its interactivity, customizability, event handling, and documentation make FusionCharts an obvious choice. Now that you’re familiar with how to use Google Charts in JavaScript, check out FusionCharts’ step-by-step guide to charts. Still in doubt? Here are 6 reasons why you should choose FusionCharts over Google Charts. Sign up for your free trial today and make the most of your data now.