Charting application

A charting application is a computer program that is used to graphically create a graphical representation (a chart) based on some non-graphical data that is entered by a user, most often through a spreadsheet application, but also through a dedicated specific scientific application (such as through a symbolic mathematics computing system, or a proprietary data collection application), or using a online spreadsheet service.

Charting applications often have capabilities to create charts of different types. They permit the user to add embellishments to the chart which are not always easily done if a chart is produced using conventional paper-and-pencil methods, such as changing colours, titles, labels, axes, and so on. Charting applications allow the capabilities of adding dynamically trendlines to graphical data and so on. Online spreadsheets such as EditGrid may even allow hosting a chart on the web and publishing it on a web page.

There are several Online Charting services available. The most popular ones being the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences NCES Chart and ChartGo.com. Both these services allow you to freely create and publish charts and graphs.

See also