What time charting tools create the best time lines?
I need to create and insert a time series chart into an ASP.NET application.
Most runtime plotting tools generate weak time axes, especially if the time scale is dynamic, i.e. the user can choose to view the data on a time scale of days, weeks, months or years.
I am looking for recommended tools that can be integrated into my application. The two that show the promise are the Chart Director and Google's annotated timeline visualization . Both are completely different in their implementation and have pros and cons.
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I've always found ChartDirector to be very good, it can do almost anything you want. Sometimes it may not be immediately obvious how to do something complicated, but the support forums on their site are run by a great guy named Peter Kwan. He could always point me in the right direction with some sample code.
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Take a look at the amCharts stock chart (if you don't mind using Flash). Despite being called a stock chart, it is actually very good at displaying any kind of date / time based data. This allows users to zoom in and out and collect data for you over longer periods as they zoom out.
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