Working with the Parallel Coordinates Plot

About the Parallel Coordinates Plot

The Parallel Coordinates plot shows patterns in the data and clusters. In this plot, the cluster ID is on the far left, and each variable is a column with its binned range of values displayed vertically. Color-coded polylines are drawn from each cluster and show which range of values the cluster contains for every variable.

Use the Parallel Coordinates Plot

You can use the Parallel Coordinates plot to make several inferences. Adjust the plot to explore the data based on cluster membership, a specified range for one or more variables, or both.
To view just the polylines for a single cluster, select that cluster ID on the far left. Notice that the polylines for all other clusters are grayed out. This enables you to focus on a single cluster. To view multiple clusters, hold the Control key and select the clusters that you want to view.
To view the Parallel Coordinates plot by a variable, click the button that corresponds to that variable. This action changes the color gradient of the polylines so that larger values are darker than smaller values. To undo the variable selection, click anywhere to the left of Cluster ID.
To restrict the number of bins displayed for a variable, click the top or bottom of a variable’s range and drag the selection rectangle to the desired range. To move the selection rectangle, click inside the rectangle, and drag the rectangle upward or downward. You can repeat this process for other variables. To undo the selection for a variable, click the name of that variable at the top of the Parallel Coordinates plot.
Combining these two features, you can restrict the display to specific clusters and variable ranges that interest you.
Last updated: January 8, 2019