Google Chart API
| Original author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2007 |
| Stable release | February 2010 |
| Website | https://developers.google.com/chart/ |
The Google Chart API is a tool that lets web application developers create charts from some data and embed it in a web page.
Many types of charts are supported, and by making the request into an image tag, people can simply include the chart in a web page.
History
Originally, Google offered charts as a PNG image of a chart from data and formatting parameters in an HTTP request.
But since April 2012 Google is now using SVG (VML for older browsers) to draw the charts. The Google Image Charts API is deprecated (but still works).
Originally it was an internal tool to support rapid embedding of charts within Google's own applications (like Google Finance for example). Google decided it would be a useful tool to make available to web developers. It officially launched on December 6, 2007.[1]
Currently, line, bar, pie and radar charts, as well as Venn diagrams, scatter plots, sparklines, maps, google-o-meters, and QR codes are supported.
Example
The following URL creates the pie chart below:
http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?
chs=200x200
&chdlp=b
&chtt=Uberman
&chdl=Asleep|Awake
&chd=t:1,11,1,11,1,11,1,11,1,11,1,11
&cht=p
&chco=586F8E|7D858F
Open source implementation
Instead of creating the URL request manually, there are many open source external libraries available for most programming languages.
| Platform | Name | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Java | Google Chart API wrapper [2] | http://code.google.com/p/googlechartwrapper/ |
| Java | charts4j [3] | http://code.google.com/p/charts4j/ |
| C#/.NET | ngchart | http://code.google.com/p/ngchart/ |
| Ruby | gchart | http://rubyforge.org/projects/gchart |
| Python | google-chartwrapper | http://code.google.com/p/google-chartwrapper/ |
| PHP | gchartphp | http://code.google.com/p/gchartphp/ |
| Perl | Google::Chart | https://metacpan.org/pod/Google::Chart |
Besides libraries, Eastwood Charts is an Open Source compatible version of Google Charts. It uses encodings that match the Google Chart API and adds its own features such as trendline overlay, 3D effects for bar charts, etc. Eastwood Charts install on its own Java Servlet server and won't send their data to Google for processing.