Interesting Alternative to Google Visualizations
I've been using the Google Visualization AnnotatedTimeLine for quite a while. It's a pretty nice tool, and it's got the backing of Google, for all that means. Good and Bad. This morning I was pointed to the Chronoscope web site where they seem to have built something on top of the GWT that can replace the AnnotatedTimeLine pretty much completely. It even has a 'compatibility' skin where it looks like the AnnotatedTimeLine (or so the docs say).
I'm always on the lookout for something that's better, faster, and cleaner than the stuff I'm using. This certainly has a lot of things to like. Right now, my biggest concern for the AnnotatedTimeLine is the fact that it 'flashes' on all updates. It's not fast but part of that is the fact that I have to give it the entire dataset at each update. It'd be great if the dataset was able to be augmented, and in doing that, it only redrew the parts that changed.
I'm not sure that Chronoscope is the answer. It's no faster than the AnnotatedTimeLine for similar dataset sizes, but it's something to keep and eye on. Maybe it'll post some specs on speed and size and give me more reason to investigate it further.