Know Your Options Before You Become One da Vinci of Tableau

The Primary Means to Narrate Stories in Tableau

We can represent the visuals using the following three formats on Tableau:

1. Sheets: Spaces where we can build individual visuals are called sheets. A worksheet has a single view in its sidebar, as well as shelves, cards, legends, and the Data and Analytics panes. A workbook is a sheet file structure along the lines of Microsoft Excel. It includes sheets that can function as a worksheet, a dashboard, or even a story

2. Dashboards: Most commonly used reporting format, a dashboard is a layout where sheets are arranged in a meaningful manner. It is a collection of views that helps you to compare a variety of data at the same time. If you have a set of views that should be reviewed every day, then you can create a dashboard that displays all of the views at once rather than navigating to separate worksheets. Think of the efficiency gains that this can bring about.

3. Story:Sheets or dashboards arranged in a sequence to convey information. A story is a collection of visuals that work together to convey information. Stories can be created to tell a data narrative, provide context, show how decisions affect outcomes, or simply make a compelling case.

Default Charts in Tableau

Through a set of default charts created with Tableau, data sets can be displayed in a comprehensible way. Let's have a look at a few types of charts:

1. Area Chart:An area chart is a line chart with a colour shaded area between the line and the axis. These charts constitute the most common approach to illustrate stacked lines and are often used to represent accumulated totals over time.

2. Bar Chart:Place a dimension on the Rows shelf and a measure on the Columns shelf to make a bar chart or vice versa. We may compare numerical data such as integers and percentages using bar charts. Each variable's value is represented by the length of each bar. Bar charts, for example, might demonstrate how much money a small business spends on various expenses.

3. Box-and-whisker Plots:When demonstrating the distribution of data points across a specified metric, box-and-whisker plots, also known as box plots, are an excellent chart to employ. The ranges within the variables measured are represented in these graphs. These graphics are useful for comparing the distributions of multiple variables.

4. Bubble cloud: In bubble clouds, data is displayed in a cluster of circles. Individual bubbles are defined by dimensions, while individual circles are defined by measures. A bubble chart's design allows it to display multiple variables. Individual bubbles represent dimension field values, while measure field values define the size and colour of the bubble. As a result, we can examine a plot with at least three variables, one dimension and two measure fields.

5. Bullet Graph:Bullet graphs are a type of bar graph that was created to replace dashboard gauges and metres. When comparing the performance of a major metric to one or more other measures, a bullet graph is beneficial. A bullet graph can help you visualise your objective, the current data set, and past data sets; all in one visualisation if you have a target goal that you need to meet on a regular basis

6. Cartogram:Choropleth Maps, also known as Filled Maps, are a powerful tool for studying geographic data, especially for maps with a lot of detail (e.g., US by counties or ZIP codes). They make it simple to detect geographical hotspots and then drill down into these areas using several visualisation options.

7. Click View:The circle view is a useful representation for comparative analysis. It's the same as using the circle marker on a scatter plot. Every mark is in the shape of a circle and can be used for subsequent actions.

8. Gantt Chart:Gantt charts are used in project management to depict the length of time between events or activities. As a project management tool, it highlights the interdependencies between activities and illuminates the workflow timeline.

9. Heat Map:In a heat map, data is displayed along with colours. Using one or more Dimensions members and the Measure value, a heat map can be created. Heat Map helps to compare data by colour. For example, how many products have failed to meet the company's expectations, and how many products have exceeded expectations, and so on.

10. Histogram:A histogram is a graph that depicts a distribution's form. It divides values for a continuous metric into bins and segregates a set of data points into user-specified ranges. The histogram, which resembles a bar graph in appearance, condenses a data series into an easily interpreted visual by grouping many data points into logical ranges or bins.

11. Scatter Plot (2D or 3D):Scatter plots are a type of graph that is used to show the correlations between numerical data. They are used to depict the link between three variables by plotting data points on three axes. Each column on the X, Y, and Z axes is represented by a marker, whose position is determined by the values in the columns.

12. Streamgraph:Streamgraph shows how a number value (Y-axis) changes in response to another numeric value (X-axis). It is a sort of stacked area chart. The relative proportions of the entire can be studied using a stream chart.

13. Text Tables:Text tables (also called cross-tabs or pivot tables) are created by placing one dimension on the Rows shelf and another dimension on the Columns shelf. Then, on the Marks card, slide one or more measures to Text to complete the view.

14. Treemap:Treemaps are used to show data in the form of nested rectangles. Dimensions define the structure of the treemap, while measures define the size or colour of the individual rectangles. It is a simple data visualisation that can provide information in a visually appealing format.

15. Word Cloud:The word cloud is an excellent visual for representing the frequency of words in a given volume of Text. In a word cloud, the most important or unique words from the data are arranged in groups. The main goal of making a word cloud is to provide the viewer with a quick understanding of the important and unique words in the data.

Custom Visuals in Tableau

Tableau also provides a range of custom visuals. Creating them is just a question of one's expertise in Tableau.

1. Dot Distribution Map: Maps that help to spot visual clusters are known as point or dot distribution maps. Dot distribution maps are excellent for displaying how data points are dispersed.

2. Network:Nodes and edges make up a network graph. By connecting nodes with similar features, network visualisations show relationships between items. A network graph is a type of data visualisation that allows consumers to quickly grasp data relationships. Nodes are single data points with edges connecting them to other nodes. The relationship between two or more nodes is represented by edges. This enables the user to easily visualise clusters and establish linkages.

3. Polar Area:The Polar Area Chart, also known as the Coxcomb chart, resembles a pie chart except that all of the slices have the same angle and the length of the slice that extends spirally from the centre represents quantity.

4. Radial Tree:A radial bar chart is a type of pie chart. Like a pie chart, it depicts the relationship of parts to the whole, but it can also include subcategories for each part of the total. Each category in the data series plotted in a radial bar chart is assigned a different colour, whereas all subcategories are assigned the same colour.

5. Timeline:The timeline chart, as the name implies, depicts the significant events that occur in the month, year, or even day. The timeline can also be used as a calendar to display forthcoming events.

From pros to amateurs to Iron Viz finalists, Tableau is a name to reckon with in the field of Data Visualisation. For those who are new to Tableau, it is a data visualisation software or application with potent potential being explored by millions of data visualisation personnel belonging to a wide spectrum of grades.

By default, Tableau supports a variety of built-in charts such as bar charts, line charts, area charts, scatter plots, maps and much more. Additionally, one can build custom visuals as well.