Algorithm for nice graph labels for time/date axis?

Posted by Aaron on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Aaron
Published on 2009-09-14T00:16:21Z Indexed on 2010/04/12 7:03 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 480

Filed under:

graphs

|

label

|

algorithm

Hello,

I'm looking for a "nice numbers" algorithm for determining the labels on a date/time value axis. I'm familar with Paul Heckbert's Nice Numbers algorithm (http://tinyurl.com/5gmk2c).

I have a plot that displays time/date on the X axis and the user can zoom in and look at a smaller time frame. I'm looking for an algorithm that picks nice dates to display on the ticks.

For example:

Looking at a day or so: 1/1 12:00, 1/1 4:00, 1/1 8:00... Looking at a week: 1/1, 1/2, 1/3... Looking at a month: 1/09, 2/09, 3/09...

The nice label ticks don't need to correspond to the first visible point, but close to it.

Is anybody familar with such an algorithm?

Thanks

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about graphs

C# Generate MRTG/RRD like Graphs Performance graphs?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a database with Performance counter data and i would like to show this on a ASP.net page but the thing is i don't want to use Flash based charting solution or a Javascript based solution i would like to just generate images and use those I want the images to be like those of RRD or MRTG. I'm… >>> More
Create Custom Web-based Graphs with the Google Chart API and PHP

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
Presenting data visually can quickly reveal crucial trends. Learn how to use the Google Chart API in conjunction with PHP to create a variety of useful charts. >>> More
Working with Graphs and Gauges in JDeveloper 11

as seen on Oracle Technology Network - Search for 'Oracle Technology Network'
New how-to's on the data visualization components >>> More
What scientific plotting software is available?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am currently doing some experimental work and I have a lot of data to trawl though. I use Gnumeric, and it's very good, but often I feel there has to be something better. Ideally I would like the maximum number of features with a minimal learning curve, but really I'd just like to know if there… >>> More
How to apply numerical integration on a graph layout

as seen on Game Development - Search for 'Game Development'
I've done some basic 1 D integration, but i can't wrap my head around things and apply it to my graph layout. So, consider the picture below: if i drag the red node to the right, i'm forcing his position to my mouse position the other nodes will "follow" him, but how ? For Verlet, to compute the… >>> More

Related posts about label

How to make radio button options dependent on other radio button choices using Mootools?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a form where there are 6 items, each of which can be ranked from 1-6 in order of importance. Here's a screenshot. Basically, I need to set it up so that if one item gets a ranking of 3 (for example), then "3" becomes disabled for all the other items. Therefore, the user should only be… >>> More
How can I convert XML files to one CSV file in C#?

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have a collection of strings that are XML content. I want to iterate thru my collection and build a CSV file to stream to the user for download (sometimes it can be hundreds in the collection). This is my loop: foreach (string response in items.Responses) { string xmlResponse = response; … >>> More
Adding a class to the $tag surrounding a <label> in a Zend_Form with the Label decorator

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'm trying to get the following html out of Zend_Form <div class="group wat-cf"> <div class="left"> <label class="label right">Username</label> </div> <div class="right"> <input type="text" class="text_field"> </div> </div> Using… >>> More
what the difference between break with label and without label in javascript

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
<script type="text/javascript"> var num = 0; for(var i = 0; i < 10; i++){ for(var j = 0; j < 10 ; j++){ if(i == 5 && j == 5){ break; } num++; } } alert(num); </script> In the above code,i expect the… >>> More
WordPress contact form email as PDF

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am using the below code for my WordPress site which is emailing all the form details as an HTML text but I need the details to be written into a PDF first and then have to email the PDF as an attachment. How can I achieve this? This is not a PHP code to use PHP's writePDF modules. So, any idea or… >>> More