What role does structured data (e.g., XML, JSON) play in data visualization with DITA in defense?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Structured data, such as XML and JSON, plays a crucial role in data visualization with DITA in defense documentation. These structured data formats serve as the foundation for creating data-driven visualizations, charts, and graphs. Here’s how structured data contributes to data visualization in the context of DITA:

1. Data Storage and Exchange: Structured data formats like XML and JSON are efficient for storing and exchanging data. Defense organizations often generate vast amounts of performance metrics and statistics. By structuring this data using XML or JSON, it becomes machine-readable and can be easily integrated into DITA topics and visualizations.

2. Data Transformation: DITA allows for the transformation of structured data into visual elements. You can use DITA specialization to define elements that represent data points, labels, and other attributes required for visualizations. This structured data can be transformed into various chart types, such as bar charts, line charts, or pie charts, ensuring that defense performance metrics are effectively communicated.

3. Data Consistency: Structured data formats help maintain data consistency across defense documentation. By using XML or JSON, defense organizations can ensure that data is uniformly structured, making it easier to update, analyze, and visualize. This consistency contributes to the accuracy and reliability of data-driven visualizations.

Example:

Here’s an example of structured data represented in JSON format that can be used to create a bar chart visualization for defense performance metrics:


<topic id="performance-visualization">
  <title>Equipment Maintenance Performance</title>
  <body>
    <p>This bar chart illustrates the equipment maintenance performance over the past year, based on structured data in JSON format.</p>
    <chart type="bar">
      <data format="json">
        {
          "January": 85,
          "February": 88,
          "March": 90,
          "April": 87
        }
      </data>
    </chart>
  </body>

In this example, the structured data is presented in JSON format within the DITA topic. The <chart> element uses the “data” attribute to specify the data format as JSON. This structured data can be transformed into a bar chart visualization for defense performance metrics.