Making Sense of Big Data with Visualization

I have said it often, visualization, a form of descriptive analytics, should be the first method used to understand any kind of data. Especially large scale and volatile forms.   In ProgrammableWeb:

" ... In this age of big data, companies typically have no problem with amassing information; the issue is making sense of that data. Data visualization enables IT and business managers to get clear and varied views of data, allowing them to more effectively make strategic business decisions. Several big-name vendors, including Amazon and Google, offer big, expensive off-the-shelf solutions. However, there are also a number of HTML5- and SVG-based solutions emerging that make the data visualization process easier and clearer—and much less expensive.

In this report, we will focus on open-source software that can help organizations build their own solution for data visualization. ... "