Filtergraph: An interactive web application for visualization of astronomy datasets

Abstract

Filtergraph is a web application being developed and maintained by the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-intensive Astrophysics (VIDA) to flexibly and rapidly visualize a large variety of astronomy datasets of various formats and sizes. The user loads a flat-file dataset into Filtergraph which automatically generates an interactive data portal that can be easily shared with others. From this portal, the user can immediately generate scatter plots of up to five dimensions as well as histograms and tables based on the dataset. Key features of the portal include intuitive controls with auto-completed variable names, the ability to filter the data in real time through user-specified criteria, the ability to select data by dragging on the screen, and the ability to perform arithmetic operations on the data in real time. To enable seamless data visualization and exploration, changes are quickly rendered on screen and visualizations can be exported as high quality graphics files. The application is optimized for speed in the context of large datasets: for instance, a plot generated from a stellar database of 3.1 million entries renders in less than 2 seconds on a standard web server platform. This 2 web application has been created using the Web2py web framework based on the Python programming language. Filtergraph is free to use at http://filtergraph.vanderbilt.edu/. Highlights: We developed a web-based application for visualization of astronomy data. The user can generate publication quality multi-dimensional plots and tables. Designed for speed, the user can instantly interact with and visualize the data. To enhance collaboration, data and visualizations can be shared via simple URL. This web application can accept data in a wide variety of file formats.

The Open Cluster Chemical Abundances and Mapping Survey. IV. Abundances for 128 Open Clusters Using SDSS/APOGEE DR16

“…Both tables are also available for exploration using Filtergraph (Burger et al 2013) at https://filtergraph. com/sdss apogee occam/.…”

Identification of Young Stellar Variables with KELT for K2. I. Taurus Dippers and Rotators

“…The electronic tables being published with this paper report the KELT instrumental magnitudes and the corresponding instrumental per point error. The KELT light curves and catalog information for all 56 stars are publicly available as electronic table using a Filtergraph 1 portal (Burger et al 2013).…”

A Catalog of Stellar Unified Properties (CATSUP) for 951 FGK-Stars within 30 pc

“…HK emission measurements of stellar activity. This figure was made using Filtergraph (Burger et al 2013). …”