Creating bubble or scatter graphs

You can create a Graph visualization that contains a bubble or scatter graph:

A bubble graph displays a bubble plot that allows you to visualize the trends of three different metrics for a set of attribute elements. Bubbles representing attribute elements are graphed on a scatter plot, then sized based on the value of a metric.
A scatter graph displays a scatter plot that allows you to visualize the trends of two different metrics for a set of attribute elements. A scatter graph is similar to a bubble graph, but does not size the markers in the graph based on the value of a metric.

Prerequisites

The steps below assume that you have already created the dashboard that you want to modify. For steps, see Creating a Graph visualization.
You should be familiar with the general workflow for adding data to a Graph visualization and slicing your data into rows and columns. For details, see Adding data to a Graph visualization and Slicing the data in a Graph visualization.

To create and add a bubble or scatter graph to a dashboard:

Click the name of the dashboard to run it.
From the toolbar, click the Insert Visualization icon . A new blank visualization is added to the dashboard and displayed.
If the Visualization Gallery is not displayed, from the View menu, select Visualization Gallery.
From the Visualization Gallery, click the Bubble Chart icon.
If the Datasets panel is not displayed, from the View menu, select Datasets Panel.
If the Editor panel is not displayed, from the View menu, select Editor Panel. If the Editor panel is hidden behind another panel, click the Editor icon to display the Editor panel.
Add data to the visualization. From the Datasets panel, click and drag objects to the Editor panel, as described in the steps below. You can also drag objects from the Datasets panel directly onto the visualization.

Note: To view data requirements for a graph style, hover your cursor over the visualization icon in the Visualization Gallery. For example images for each graph style, see Minimum data requirements to create each Graph visualization style.

To determine the metric used to position each marker on the X-axis of the graph, place the metric in the Horizontal area.
To determine the metric used to position each marker on the Y-axis of the graph, place the metric in the Vertical area.
To determine the size of the markers in the graph, place one metric in the Size By area. Markers corresponding to large metric values are automatically displayed as larger in size, while markers for small metric values are displayed as smaller in size.

Note: If the Horizontal, Vertical, and Size By areas contain the same number of metrics, tuples of markers will be displayed on the Graph visualization. If the Horizontal area contains more metrics than the Vertical and Size By areas, the additional metrics in the Horizontal area are ignored. If the Vertical area contains more metrics than the Horizontal and Size By areas, the additional metrics in the Vertical area are ignored.

To color the graph markers, place objects on the Color By area, as follows:

To color the graph markers based on an attribute, place at least one attribute on the Color By area. Each element in the attribute is displayed using a different color. For example, you can display the sales data for each employee using a different bubble color. If you add more than one attribute to the Color By area, each combination of the attribute elements is displayed using a different color.

If other graphs and heat maps are colored based on the same attribute, each attribute element will display in the same color across all the graphs and heat maps. The application automatically selects the colors based on the color palette, but you can select a color for each attribute element. For steps, see Formatting a Graph visualization.
To color markers based on the value of a metric, place one metric on the Color By area. The markers in the visualization are shaded based on the value of the metric. For example, you can automatically color the bubbles in a bubble graph based on the value of the Profit metric, with larger profit values displayed using darker colors and smaller profit values displayed using lighter colors.
To color graph items based on the metric that each item represents, place the Metric Names attribute on the Color By area. Each metric in the visualization is displayed using a different color. For example, you can display the Revenue, Cost, and Profit metrics using a different color for each metric.

To display a separate graph marker for each element in an attribute, place at least one attribute in the Break By area. For example, you can display the revenue data for each Region as a separate marker, or display a marker for each year of data. If you add more than one attribute to the Break By area, a graph item is displayed for each combination of the attribute elements.
Once you have added data to the visualization, you can choose to slice the data into rows and columns of separate graphs, based on attributes. If you slice the data into both rows and columns, a table of graphs is displayed, with a graph for each combination of the attribute elements. Choose from the following:

To display a row of graphs in the visualization, click and drag at least one attribute to the top of the Vertical area. Each graph is displayed in a separate row, one for each element in the attribute.
To display a column of graphs in the visualization, click and drag at least one attribute to the top of the Horizontal area. Each graph is displayed in a separate column, one for each element in the attribute.

For each attribute in the Editor panel, you can select which attribute forms are displayed in the visualization. An attribute form is a descriptive category for an attribute. For a more detailed description, including how to select what attribute information to display in the headers, see Selecting which attribute forms to display in a visualization.
To select the attribute forms, in the Editor panel, right-click the attribute and point to Display Attribute Form. Select one of the following:

To display an attribute form in the visualization, select the check box next to its name.
To hide an attribute form in the visualization, clear the check box next to its name.

To display additional metrics in a tooltip when you hover the cursor over a graph item, place the metrics that you want to display on the Tooltip area.
You can define other options, such as the shape of graph markers. For steps, see Formatting a Graph visualization.
Click the Save icon to save your changes.

Creating bubble or scatter graphs

Prerequisites

Related topics