Canvas Parallel Coordinates

An example of an SVG interaction layer over a canvas rendering layer. The SVG parallel coordinates starts to slow down significantly at 1000 data points. This version should scale better, and offer more opportunities for optimization.

Interactions done with the brush component

Based on d3.js Parallel Coordinates

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8"/>
    <title>Canvas Parallel Coordinates</title>
    <style type="text/css">

svg {
  font: 10px sans-serif;
}

canvas, svg {
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  left: 0;
}

#chart {
  position: relative;
}

.brush .extent {
  fill-opacity: .3;
  stroke: #fff;
  shape-rendering: crispEdges;
}

.axis line, .axis path {
  fill: none;
  stroke: #000;
  shape-rendering: crispEdges;
}

.axis text {
  text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #fff;
}

</style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="chart">
      <canvas id="background"></canvas>
      <canvas id="foreground"></canvas>
      <svg></svg>
    </div>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://d3js.org/d3.v2.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">

var m = [30, 10, 10, 10],
    w = 960 - m[1] - m[3],
    h = 500 - m[0] - m[2];

var x = d3.scale.ordinal().rangePoints([0, w], 1),
    y = {};

var line = d3.svg.line(),
    axis = d3.svg.axis().orient("left"),
    background,
    foreground;

d3.selectAll("canvas")
    .attr("width", w + m[1] + m[3])
    .attr("height", h + m[0] + m[2])
    .style("padding", m.join("px ") + "px");

foreground = document.getElementById('foreground').getContext('2d');
background = document.getElementById('background').getContext('2d');

foreground.strokeStyle = "rgba(0,100,160,0.24)";
background.strokeStyle = "rgba(0,0,0,0.02)";

var svg = d3.select("svg")
    .attr("width", w + m[1] + m[3])
    .attr("height", h + m[0] + m[2])
  .append("svg:g")
    .attr("transform", "translate(" + m[3] + "," + m[0] + ")");

d3.csv("cars.csv", function(cars) {

// Extract the list of dimensions and create a scale for each.
  x.domain(dimensions = d3.keys(cars[0]).filter(function(d) {
    return d != "name" && (y[d] = d3.scale.linear()
        .domain(d3.extent(cars, function(p) { return +p[d]; }))
        .range([h, 0]));
  }));

// Render full foreground and background
  cars.map(function(d) {
    path(d, background);
    path(d, foreground);
  });

// Add a group element for each dimension.
  var g = svg.selectAll(".dimension")
      .data(dimensions)
    .enter().append("svg:g")
      .attr("class", "dimension")
      .attr("transform", function(d) { return "translate(" + x(d) + ")"; });

// Add an axis and title.
  g.append("svg:g")
      .attr("class", "axis")
      .each(function(d) { d3.select(this).call(axis.scale(y[d])); })
    .append("svg:text")
      .attr("text-anchor", "middle")
      .attr("y", -9)
      .text(String);

// Add and store a brush for each axis.
  g.append("svg:g")
      .attr("class", "brush")
      .each(function(d) { d3.select(this).call(y[d].brush = d3.svg.brush().y(y[d]).on("brush", brush)); })
    .selectAll("rect")
      .attr("x", -8)
      .attr("width", 16);

// Handles a brush event, toggling the display of foreground lines.
  function brush() {
    var actives = dimensions.filter(function(p) { return !y[p].brush.empty(); }),
        extents = actives.map(function(p) { return y[p].brush.extent(); });

// Get lines within extents
    var selected = [];
    cars.map(function(d) {
      return actives.every(function(p, i) {
        return extents[i][0] <= d[p] && d[p] <= extents[i][1];
      }) ? selected.push(d) : null;
    });

// Render selected lines
    foreground.clearRect(0,0,w+1,h+1);
    selected.map(function(d) {
      path(d, foreground);
    });
  }
});

</script>
  </body>
</html>

https://d3js.org/d3.v2.js