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Principles of Data Visualization

Visualization in Tableau
 Edward Tufte’s Principles
— Show the data
— Induce viewer to think about the substance
— Avoid distorting what the data have to say
— Present many numbers in a small space
— Make large data sets coherent
— Encourage the eye to compare different pieces of data
— Reveal data at several levels of detail
— Serve the purpose of description, exploration, or tabulation
— Integrate with statistical and verbal definitions of a data set

Edward Tufte
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 Show the Data
— What is the mean of each x & y series

F. J. Anscombe
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 Show the Data
— Anscombe’s Quartet

1 2

3 4

F. J. Anscombe
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 Florence Nightengale

http://understandinguncertainty.org/coxcombs
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 Polar Area Diagram - Coxcomb

Bloomberg Businessweek
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 Data Source Connections

Extracts
— Snapshots of data optimized for aggregation
— Loaded into system memory to be recalled quickly
— After connection data can be extracted and brought in-memory with
one click
Live connections
— Provide real-time updates with data source changes reflected in Tableau
— Relies on an outside database for queries
— Data connectors that leverage existing data infrastructure
— Send dynamic SQL or MDX statements to the datasource

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 Connecting to Data
— Connect to a data file – Excel, Text, JSON

— Connect to data on a server - Tableau Server,

— Connect to Saved Data Sources

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 Connect to Server
— On the Connect to a Server page, select the type of server
 Creation of Data Source Extract
— Automatically identification of meta data types for each field
 Data Source Overview
— After the connection is established
— Data Source fields display in the Data window of a workbook
 Data Joins
— Select a data source and drag it to the join box

12
 Define the Join Condition
— Select the preferred type of join
— Select a common field from the first Data Source
— Select the common field from the second Data Source

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 Reviewing the Join
— Data source fields are assigned unique colors

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 Data Union
— Tables for union must have the same structure
— Select new union
— Drag and drop tables to the union dialog box

15
 Data Blending
— Establishes a common field relationship in a view
— Establishes a primary data source with a blue check, secondary data
source with an orange check
— Orange links beside data elements signify the linked field

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 Data Blending Result
— Primary query scopes the data presentation, secondary query
enhances the primary result
— Effective technique when data source data exists at different
levels

Blend adds the Join improperly

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 Workspace Area
Workbook Name
Cards & Shelves View
Data Panel

Status Bar Sheet 18

Worksheet Dashboard Story

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 Data Type Icons
— Meta data types are changed on the data source source page or
in the properties of each field

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datafields_typesandroles_datatypes.htm 20
 Understanding Basic Concepts
Dimensions
— Qualitative values (customer, product, dates, geographic data)
— Used to categorize, segment, and reveal details in the data
— Dimensions affect the level of detail in the view

Measures
— Quantitative values that can be aggregated (sales, quantity, profit)
— Aggregation is applied to measures by default

Continuous (green) means "forming an unbroken whole, without

Discrete (blue) means "individually separate and distinct"

Source:https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/datafields_typesandroles.htm 21
 Aggregation
— Single plotted point aggregates all data for the two measures
— As category is encoded, the aggregation splits by category
— Measure pills are displayed Aggregation(Data Element)

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 Aggregating Measures
— Each measure is assigned a default aggregation
— Aggregations for each measure can be changed

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/calculations_aggregation.htm 23
 Aggregating Dimensions
— Aggregating a dimension creates a temporary measure column

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/calculations_aggregation.htm 24
 Data Element Properties
— Fields can be renamed
— Aliases can be assigned to the values in each field

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 Convert Measure to Dimension
— In some analyses we prefer to have a field function as a
dimension even through it is numeric
— Quantity is used as a category of sale types

26
 Measure Number Format
— Number type can be defined for currency, scientific, or whole
numbers can be defined in default properties

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 Assign Geographic Role
— Geographic roles need to be
assigned to fields used in
mapping
— Geographic roles include
County, State, City, and Zip
Code

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 Visual Encoding Fields
— Fields are dragged from the data panel and attached to a type
of mark to encode that specific data element
— After encoding, marks can be edited in each encoded pill
below

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 Encoding Points with Color
— Category is dragged to the color marks reflecting the 3
categories of items sold

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/viewparts_marks_markproperties.htm 30
 Encoding Bars with Color
— Country is dragged to the color marks reflecting individual
countries in the bars

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 Encoding Points with Size
— Sales is dragged to the size marks reflecting sales amounts as
different sizes of circles

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/viewparts_marks_markproperties.htm 32
 Encoding Bars with Size
— Dragging Average Revenue to Size in the Marks card

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 Encoding with a Label
— When the Sales measure is dragged to the Label, marks apply
labels to each bar

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 Encoding Detail
— Dragging Birth Date to Detail in Marks encodes detailed date
categories (year, quarter, month, day)

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 Encoding a Tooltip
— Includes data attributes in a hover over display of a visual
object

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 Encoding with Shapes
— Segment data element is dragged to shape encoding the customer
segment

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 Encoding with Path
— Draws paths in chronological order using the data element of
date

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-gb/viewparts_marks_markproperties.htm 38
 Format Views for Presentation
— For a view, you can specify the font, style, size, and color for
the pane text, header text, and annotations

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/formatting_worksheet.htm
39
 Format Marks for Presentation
— Multiple encoding with shape, size, and color
— Each pill can be formatted by clicking on it

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 Avoid Overloading your Views
— Overloading a view is one of the most common mistakes in
data visualization (data to ink ratio)

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 41
 Limit Number Colors and Shapes
— Encoding too many values with colors without an order
creates cognitive confusion instead of communication

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 42
 Exploring and Analysing Data
— How does color improve the visualization?
— How can we improve the one on the right?

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 43
 Line Chart
— Trend lines are most frequently used to track a trend data over time
— Here we see trends over time by sector

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 44
 Area Chart
— Area charts treats each sector as a pattern

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 45
 Stacked Bar Chart
— This bar chart focuses each year as a single pattern

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 46
 Column Line Diagram

Bloomberg Businessweek
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 Horizontal Bar Chart
— Horizontal bar charts work very well for comparison and ranking
— Encodes quantitative values as length on the same baseline for easy
comparison

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 48
 Scatter Plot
— Scatter plot encoding provides a good view of the correlation
of points in relation to a mean

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 49
 Dual Axis Chart
— Allows you to compare two measures on the Y in one view

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 Combining Multiple Charts
— Placing trend lines for sales price and quantity on top of bar chart
performance guides the viewer’s focus toward a comparison of two trends

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 51
 Box Plot
— Distribution analysis shows how quantitative values are distributed across a
quantitative range
— Box plots are excellent for displaying multiple distributions

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 52
 Histogram
— Histograms displays a distribution breaking the data out by time
segments (or bins)
— Number of patients are counted in each segment

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 53
 Pie Charts
— Pie Charts perform a part-to-whole analysis
— Pie charts are well recognized but suffer from challenges in radial
accuracy

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 54
 Comparison
— Are the comparisons easier or harder to make versus pie chart
segments?

Source: blog.funnel.io 55
 Pie Chart Counter Argument
— True that with 3 or less large slices it is easy to interpret
— Bar chart in the bottom left has a Y axis problem

Source: displayr.com 56
 Symbol Map
— Geographic maps are a type of symbol map

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 Bullet Chart
— Bullet chart combines a bar chart with reference lines
comparing actual and target values

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/tableau-visual-guidebook 58
 Bubble Chart
— Bubble charts are used to show the relative relationship
between three or more measure values

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 Highlighted Table
— Provides quick
highlighting of high
and low values that
are interesting

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 Gantt Chart
— Gantt charts are useful to show the duration of activity or events
— Each mark shows a duration (typically a bar)

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/which-chart-or-graph-is-right-for-you
61
 Heat Maps
— Heat maps provide comparison across two or more categories using
color
— Patterns guide viewers around the chart, quickly showing where the
intersection of categories is strongest and weakest

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Source: https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2018/11/density-mark-type-brings-new-kind-heatmap-tableau-98488
 Tree Map
— Tree maps relate different segments of your data to the whole
— Categories within a level are nested within a higher level

Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/buildexamples_treemap.htm
63
 Candlestick Chart
— Candlestick charts are used for financial analysis using a box plot in place
of each point
— This chart defines the open, close, high, and low values for trading prices

Source: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/which-chart-or-graph-is-right-for-you
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 Create a Group
— Group can be created selecting values in a dimension
— Visual data elements can be selected in the view and click on the
paper clip icon

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 Create an Other Group
— Other groups can be created representing all other categories

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 66
 Create a Set
— Visual data elements can be
selected to form a set

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 67
 Create Hierarchies
— Dragging and dropping a field onto another field creates a
hierarchy
— Clicking the + or – in the pill will move through the hierarchy

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 68
 Add a Filter to the View
— Drag and drop dimension or measures on the filter pane.

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 Add a Date Filter
— You can also drag date fields to the filter pane to set filtering
conditions

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 Keep / Exclude Data Points
— With a selection of data points you can keep only those data points
or exclude those data points from the view

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 71
Add a Context (nested) Filter

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 72
 Sorting
— Sorting can be performed using an axis, header, or field label

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 Sort from the Toolbar
— Sort icons on the toolbar will sort ascending or descending
— Sorting can be engaged on each pill

Source: onlinehelp.tableau.com 74
 Manual Sort
— A value can be selected and dragged to the desired position in
a list

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 Computed Sort
— Tableau offers several computer generated sort options such as
Alphabetic(ascending or descending),by fields, nested and data
source order

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 Add a Trend Line
— A trend line can be added based on a specified field or a data
value in the view
— You can add a reference line at a constant or computed value
on the axis

Trend Line
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 Table Calculation
— A table calculation is a transformation
of values in a visualization
— These are special type of calculated field
that computes on the local data

Without Calculation With Calculation

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 Create a Calculated Field
— Sometimes a data source does not contain a field (or column)
— Calculated field provides a formula using existing data

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 Create a Parameter
— Parameters are dynamic values that can replace constant values
in calculations, filters, and reference lines.

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 Share TWBX as an Image and PDF
— Export to Image
1. Select Worksheet > Export> Image.
2. In the Copy Image dialog box, select the contents you want to
include in the image and the legend layout (if the view contains a
legend). Click Save.

— Export to PDF
In Tableau Desktop, you can publish one or more views to PDF by
selecting File > Print to PDF

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Source: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/save_export_image.htm
 Export Worksheet to Excel
— The data elements in the current view can be exported to
excel

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 Summary
— Data is not the thing, phenomena is the thing
— Insights are about the phenomena
— Information is the organization of data into meaning
— Tableau creates worksheets, dashboards, and stories
— Marks perform visual encoding
— Sorting and Filtering format visual data elements

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