Bloomberg's Billionaires

 
Data visualization can serve two purposes and two audiences, says  Lisa Strausfeld, Global Head of Data Visualization at Bloomberg LP. For the novice, it can serve as an explanation; for the expert, data visualization can guide exploration. Bloomberg Billionaires - that's a screenshot above - does a bit of both. It's interactive - that's billionaires plotted by industry above. But you can also change the day, and filter sets of data. For example, the screenshot below is the net worth rankings as of March 14, 2012:

Those handy little pop-up flags link to recent stories.

You can also filter by industry, citizenship, gender, and source of wealth (inherited or self-made).  Interestingly, Bloomberg himself does not appear on the list.