Working with Bubble Plots

About Bubble Plots

A bubble plot represents the values of three measures by using differently sized markers (bubbles) in a scatter plot. The values of two measures are represented by the position on the graph axes, and the value of the third measure is represented by the marker size.

You can also create animated bubble plots to display changing data over time.

Specify Properties for a Bubble Plot

On the Properties tab, you can specify the following options:

Name

specifies the name of the visualization.

Title

specifies the title that appears above the graph.

Note: The Title option is disabled if you select Generate graph titles.

Generate graph titles

specifies that the graph title is generated automatically based on the data items in the visualization.

Show grid lines

displays grid lines for each tick on the response axis.

Color gradient

selects the gradient colors for the visualization.

Data Roles for a Bubble Plot

The basic data roles for a bubble plot are:

X axis

specifies the measure that is assigned to the X axis.

Y axis

specifies the measure that is assigned to the Y axis.

Bubble size

specifies the measure that determines the marker size.

In addition to the basic data roles, you can assign additional roles:

Group

groups the data according to the values of the category data item that you assign. A separate set of points is created for each value.

Note: You cannot assign both the Group and the Color roles at the same time.

Bubble color

specifies a data item that determines the color of the bubbles. If you specify a category, then each value of the category is represented by a different bubble color. If you specify a measure, then the bubble color represents the measure value.

Note: You cannot assign both the Group and the Color roles at the same time.

Lattice columns

creates a lattice of charts, with a column for each value of the category data item that you assign.

Lattice rows

creates a lattice of charts, with a row for each value of the category data item that you assign.

Animation

specifies a datetime data item that is used to animate the bubble plot.

Note: The Animation role is enabled only if you set assign a data item to the Group role.

Using Animated Bubble Plots

About Animated Bubble Plots

An animated bubble plot displays the changes in your data values over time. Each frame of the animation represents a value of the datetime data item that is assigned to the Animation data role.

For example, if you assign a category with the YEAR format to the Animation data role, then each frame of the animation displays a bubble plot of your data for a specific year.

Create an Animated Bubble Plot

To create an animated bubble plot:

Select an existing bubble plot, or create a new bubble plot.
Assign a data item to the Group data role.
Assign a data item with a datetime format to the Animation data role.

Display an Animated Bubble Plot

For an animated bubble plot, a set of animation controls appears at the bottom of the visualization.

Animation Control Tasks
Task	Action
Start the animation	Click .
Go to the previous animation frame	Click .
Go to the next animation frame	Click .
Jump to a specific animation frame	Use the slider.
Specify whether to repeat the animation	Select or deselect Loop.
Select the animation speed	Use the Speed slider.
Track the movement of a specific bubble	Click the bubble that you want to track.