GGobi is a free statistical software tool for interactive data visualization. GGobi allows extensive exploration of the data with Interactive dynamic graphics. It is also a tool for looking at multivariate data. R can be used in sync with GGobi (through rggobi). The GGobi software can be embedded as a library in other programs and program packages using an application programming interface (API) (integration into a stand-alone application) or as an add-on to existing languages and scripting environments, e.g., with the R command line or from a Perl or Python scripts. GGobi prides itself on its ability to link multiple graphs together.

Overview

GGobi was created to look at data matrices. The designers were interested in exploring multi-dimensional data. The program developers went through many name changes before settling on GGobi (A combination of the words GTK+ and the Gobi Desert). The original concept, Dataviewer, began in the mid-80s, and a predecessor, XGobi, began in 1989. Work began on the current version of GGobi in 1999. The main reason for the different versions was the change in technology. Current version for MS Windows is 2.1.10a (12 March 2010) with an update for 64 bit usage from 10 June 2012. Released under a combination of three free software licenses, GGobi is free software.

GGobi Topics

Importance of graphics

Looking at data through various graphs can reveal more information about the distribution than just looking at the numbers or a summary of them. Using the different tools within GGobi, clusters, non-linear distributions, outliers, and other important variations in the data can be discovered. GGobi is a program which allows exploratory data analysis to occur for multi-dimensional data.

Supported data sources

GGobi can read CSV and XML file types.

Types of graphics

Interactions

These tools can be used to pick out special points or clusters of data.