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Mike Bostock

Canvases first look webinar

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Robert Kosara Headshot

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Allison Horst headshot

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Observable Canvases

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Allison Horst

Observable

Robert Kosara

The Observable team and community have created thousands of openly shared data visualizations in Observable Plot and D3. To easily reuse them, your data needs to be in the expected shape. Learn about the data shapes that many Plot and D3 charts consume, and how to transform your data so you can drop it into existing examples.

Reshaping data for visualizations with D3 and Observable Plot

In Observable Canvases, charts representing millions of records are generated almost instantaneously. Learn how we keep data visualizations fast by limiting data returned by SQL queries and giving charts just the information they need.

Big data, fast data visualizations

It’s 2025. Nobody is fighting the idea that data can help companies make better decisions. But recognizing that data culture is good for business, and putting it into practice, are very different things. Learn how data analysts can contribute to a stronger data culture within their organization. 

How data analysts can improve data culture across their organization

Given how common histograms are in BI tools, you might think they’re easy to design. Think again. We share challenges we encountered, and how we handled them, while designing better out-of-the-box histograms in Observable Canvases.

Designing better out-of-the-box histograms

Visual data analysis helps data teams keep a close eye on their data throughout the entire analysis process. Learn how that expands opportunities for discovery, facilitates collaboration, and helps uncover mistakes sooner than later.

End-to-end visual data analysis improves discovery, accuracy, and collaboration

When collaborators are only involved as an afterthought in the data lifecycle, analysts can find themselves mired in unexpected last-minute requests, or overhauling deliverables that didn’t match stakeholder needs. By involving collaborators from the start, analysts can do more focused, efficient, and valued work with fewer back-and-forths.

Move faster, together, with collaborative analytics

Observable offers a more flexible two-dimensional way of working, built-in real-time collaboration, and powerful visualization tools.

Why choose Observable over legacy business intelligence software?

A look at the basics of querying databases using SQL, to count values, add up numbers, and compute averages. We also cover filtering data to only consider specific values.

How to query databases for data analysis

A new way to explore, visualize, and collaborate with data — all in one shared canvas.

Introducing Observable Canvases

An introduction to database basics for analysts, covering the basics of how they work and why they are structured the way they are.

Observable blog

Reshaping data for visualizations with D3 and Observable Plot

Reshaping data for visualizations with D3 and Observable Plot

Big data, fast data visualizations

How data analysts can improve data culture across their organization

Designing better out-of-the-box histograms

End-to-end visual data analysis improves discovery, accuracy, and collaboration

Move faster, together, with collaborative analytics

Why choose Observable over legacy business intelligence software?

How to query databases for data analysis

Introducing Observable Canvases

Databases 101 for data analysts