Apparatus and method for state management across visual transitions
A server has a data processing module with instructions executed by a processor to maintain an annotation of a first visualization of data, where the first visualization of data has visualization configuration parameters. The annotation is linked to a second visualization of the data that utilizes the visualization configuration parameters.
1. A server, comprising:
a data processing module with instructions executed by a processor to:
maintain an annotation of a first visualization of data from a first data source, wherein the first visualization of data has visualization configuration parameters; and
link the annotation to a second visualization of the data that utilizes the visualization configuration parameters, wherein the second visualization of the data is based upon a second data source and wherein the annotation is positioned at a specified hierarchical data dimension common to the first data source and the second data source.
2. The server of claim 1 wherein the visualization configuration parameters include a filter setting.
3. The server of claim 1 wherein the visualization configuration parameters include a data highlight setting.
4. The server of claim 1 wherein the visualization configuration parameters include a sort order setting.
5. The server of claim 1 wherein the visualization configuration parameters include a color highlight setting.
6. The server of claim 1 wherein the data processing module further includes instructions executed by a processor to:
maintain a collection of data units, wherein the collection of data units includes data from multiple data sources; and
maintain a collection of discussion threads, wherein each discussion thread is associated with a data unit and each discussion thread uniquely identifies different users and comments made by the different users.
7. The server of claim 6 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to store a state of a discussion thread using a version field of a data unit corresponding to the discussion thread.
8. The server of claim 6 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to maintain permission settings in a data unit corresponding to a discussion thread, wherein the permission settings specify access to data in a data unit and access to a discussion thread.
9. The server of claim 6 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to maintain an annotation of a visualization of data associated with the collection of data units.
10. The server of claim 9 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to maintain the state of the annotation in a data unit.
11. The server of claim 9 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to maintain the annotation at a specified hierarchical data dimension location displayed in multiple visualizations.
12. The server of claim 6 wherein the data processing module includes instructions executed by the processor to send an alert to a user when a data value exceeds a specified threshold.
13. The server of claim 6 further comprising:
a web application module to supply to a client an interface displaying:
a textual description of disparate data sources;
visualizations of data from the disparate data sources, wherein the visualizations harmonize data from the disparate data sources through an identified, common hierarchical dimension; and
a collaboration panel to facilitate online communications regarding the visualizations.
14. The server of claim 13 wherein the web application module supplies to a client an interface displaying data filtering options.
15. The server of claim 13 wherein the web application module supplies to a client an interface displaying data visualization options.
16. The server of claim 15 wherein a selected data visualization option from the data visualization options automatically invokes an additional visualization of data from a data source, and wherein the additional visualization of data is accompanied by the collaboration panel with state information regarding the visualizations.
17. The server of claim 13 wherein the identified, common hierarchical dimension is geography.
18. The server of claim 13 wherein the identified, common hierarchical dimension is time.
19. The server of claim 13 wherein the identified, common hierarchical dimension is a category.