Visualizing Time Series Data

Question

I hope this question isn't out of place here.

I have some time series data from a Zooz power plug that I'd like to visualize. Excel works fine to a point, with small sets of data, but it's not easy to move the data window, to zoom in on particular moments, for example.

Are there any free data visualization apps that accept time series data and implement controls for viewing it dynamically? I'm happy to pay for something, too, if it works well, but this is for a personal hobby project, so I'm trying to spend my money carefully :) Looking for off-the-shelf solutions before I dive into R. Thanks.

Answer 1

You can use plotly in python to get this done.

import plotly.graph_objects as go
import numpy as np

x = np.array([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])
y = np.array([1, 3, 2, 3, 1])

fig = go.Figure()
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y, name="linear",
                    line_shape='linear'))
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y + 5, name="spline",
                    text=["tweak line smoothness<br>with 'smoothing' in line object"],
                    hoverinfo='text+name',
                    line_shape='spline'))
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y + 10, name="vhv",
                    line_shape='vhv'))
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y + 15, name="hvh",
                    line_shape='hvh'))
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y + 20, name="vh",
                    line_shape='vh'))
fig.add_trace(go.Scatter(x=x, y=y + 25, name="hv",
                    line_shape='hv'))

fig.update_traces(hoverinfo='text+name', mode='lines+markers')
fig.update_layout(legend=dict(y=0.5, traceorder='reversed', font_size=16))

fig.show()

https://plot.ly/python/line-charts/

Answer 2

ETA New Current Best Answer: It turns out Google Sheets has a "Timeline" chart type that implements something very similar to the charts on Google Finance. It is not clunky and so far seems perfect!

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It turns out you can do this in Excel after all:

http://dedicatedexcel.com/create-an-excel-chart-with-a-scroll-bar/

I'm working on it now but this seems like what I was looking for.

ETA: Well it's a little clunky, but I did implement the above and created a scatter plot that can scroll around, which does get me what I said I wanted.