Methods and systems for inferring intent and utilizing context for natural language expressions to generate data visualizations in a data visualization interface

A computing device, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• memory;
• a display;
• and
• one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:
• receiving user selection of a data source;
• receiving a first natural language command that includes a request for information about the data source;
• determining one or more first keywords from the first natural language command;
• determining, based on the one or more first keywords, a first user intent to generate a data visualization;
• generating a visual specification that specifies the data source, a plurality of visual variables, and a plurality of data fields from the data source, each data field of the plurality assigned to one or more respective visual variables, wherein:
• each of the visual variables determines a characteristic of the data visualization to be displayed based on data values for data fields assigned to the visual variable;
• and
• each of the visual variables is specified based on the first user intent;
• and
• generating and displaying the data visualization based on the visual specification.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computing device having one or more processors, memory, and a display, the one or more programs comprising instructions for:

• receiving user selection of a data source;
• receiving a first natural language command that includes a request for information about the data source;
• determining one or more first keywords from the first natural language command;
• determining, based on the one or more first keywords, a first user intent to generate a data visualization;
• generating a visual specification that specifies the data source, a plurality of visual variables, and a plurality of data fields from the data source, each data field of the plurality assigned to one or more respective visual variables, wherein:
• each of the visual variables determines a characteristic of the data visualization to be displayed based on data values for data fields assigned to the visual variable;
• and
• each of the visual variables is specified based on the first user intent;
• and generating and displaying the data visualization based on the visual specification.