Telling stories that can only be seen. Data visualisations can be extraordinarily beautiful. Here are but a few tools.
gephi
Open-source desktop application, primarily a network visualisation tool, but with plugins galore for space-time extensions.
Gapminder
Beautiful, multivariate statistics. See this phenomenal TED presentation by Hans Rosling – love that guy
Google charts
Not surprising, Google chart can be a powerful tool. Simple to use and simple to work with fusiontables.
somvis
Maybe the most gorgeous multivariable thing around.
Raphaël
The classic javascript library, used by, I am sure, millions of web developers out there. Much experimentations and examples for things you have never thought to visualise.
MIT Exhibit (Similie)
It looks a little dated now, but Exhibit, formerly known as Similie, is powerful and do some interesting experiments with time-space.
d3
Probably the other of the classic javascript libraries. My personal favourite over Raphaël.
Highcharts
Another js library, these guys are highly professional. Free versions for non-profits. One really nice thing is that each diagram and graph example on their site links to the respective JSFiddle. Heartwarming.
InfoViz
Multivariate analysis.
Sci2Tool
Very scientific (and therefore console-based), this is made for balancing visual readability with scientific exploration.
GraphInsight
Python-based network analysis.
NodeXL – Excel-based
What is says on the box: excel based engine with node-edge emphasis.
Linkurious
Web-based application for exploring graph databases.
textexture
Visualising text as a network.
In-spire
visual document analysis
Circos
You would be amazed at how much information can be displayed and explored in Circos.
Pathline
Here is one pretty specific to analysis of functional genomics. It explores relations in three dimensions: gene activity, pathway data that presents a series of reactions within a cellular process; and phylogenetic data describing ancestral relationships between species. Yay biology!
