Feeding data into Datawrapper

With the release 1.5.3 we are introducing a simple way to feed data into Datawrapper.

Why would I do this?

For a moment, imagine that you are running a data hub, a software for collaborating on gathering, sharing and using data. Naturally you would like to see all that data being used in the wild, for instance in visualizations embedded into blogs or shared in social media. And you know that tools like Datawrapper are created for that exact purpose. But to visualize your data in Datawrapper, your users would have to go to a number of steps:

1. Download the dataset from your website in CSV format,
2. Go to Datawrapper,
3. Upload the dataset,
4. Correctly credit and link to the original data source

Since time and motivation are often limited resources, we thought it’s a good idea so simplify this process. After all, you as the data provider already have the data and the metadata in a structured format. So why not take that hurdle out of your users way and let your website feed the data into Datawrapper directly?

Nice idea, how does it work?

Feeding data into Datawrapper can be done by sending a simple POST request to http://datawrapper.de/charts/create. Nothing else needed. To send this request you can either set up a simple HTML form or use JavaScript. Your users are then redirected to Datawrapper jumping right into the visualizing step, with the dataset already set up for them.

Here’s a sample form as the data hub could render it with the data:

So the only thing visible to the user would be a simple form submit button.

Can I see a demo of it?

Sure, below you find a simple demo for how you use a HTML form to feed data into Datawrapper. Of course in a real example you would probably hide the form elements or fire the request using JavaScript, but you’ll get the idea.

Chart title

CSV data Year Imports Exports 2000 58082 55704 2001 53779 52928 2002 52153 42502 2003 53493 42284 2004 56454 43800 2005 60218 45510 2006 61004 51767 2007 63111 55479 2008 62688 57351 2009 50803 48902 2010 52740 51406 2011 52260 56998

Data source

Dataset url

Chart type Line chart Bar chart

Create a new chart with this data

What chart attributes can be set?

The following table lists all the parameters that can be set using the request. Depending on what parameters you provide the user will be directed either to the describe or visualize step of the chart editor.

Request parameters

• data – the dataset in CSV format
• title – if the dataset has a name, you can set it as chart title (optional)
• source-name – the name of the organization providing the data (optional)
• source-url – the link back to the original dataset (optional)
• type – the chart type, which can be line-chart, bar-chart, column-chart, grouped-column-chart, stacked-column-chart, pie-chart, or donut-chart (optional)

Feedback is welcome!

We’re interested in what you think about this, so please let us know in the comments or on Twitter. what you think about this idea, and if you actually going to integrate this in your website.