Bubble plot is quite similar to scatter plot and this chart is widely used to visualize relations between three variables.
Let’s have a closer look at it!
For a bubble plot two different variables (categories) are located on the X and Y axis. As such the data point is plotted horizontally and vertically according to its value for each variable.
Unlike scatter plot, bubble plot by default has a third dimension that impacts the size on the data point. The higher the numeric value - the bigger the bubble.
Bubble plot can be found underneath the ‘Scatter & Bubble plot’ section. You can add it to the editor by clicking on it or by drag and drop. There are five data slots you can add data to - ‘X axis’, ‘Y axis’, ‘Size’, ‘Color’ and ‘Name’.
Columns with data types ‘numeric’ or ‘hierarchy’ are a perfect fit for this slot.
The column added to it defines the value slots that are shown on the horizontal axis.
In our example, we will visualize data about fishes, so we use ‘Caught’ column.
Similar as above, ‘numeric’ and ‘hierarchy’ columns are the best to use. And the value groups will be shown on the vertical axis.
We use ‘Price’ column for this slot in our sample below. And we immediately see that bubbles have different size - some are bigger than others. By default the chart counts the number of occurrences of a curtain data point and this affects it's size. You can also add your own numeric value by using ‘Size’ slot.
Columns with data type ‘hierarchy’ are perfect here.
This slot works similar to the ‘Group by’ function and colors data points from the same category or group in one color.
We will use ‘Type’ column as a grouping metric in our chart.
Columns with data type ‘numeric’ would work best for it. Data from this slot defines the size of bubbles.
We will add ‘Weight’ column to this data slot.
This slot allows you to include more info about a certain data point and will be shown in a tooltip when you hover over one of the dots.
Columns with data type ‘hierarchy’, ‘numeric’ and ‘date time’ would work for this slot.
We will add ‘Year’ and ‘Region’ columns to our slot and as we see, those are now shown in the tooltip when hovering over.
Feel free to play with the chart style by selecting themes to your liking from our library or even create your own custom look.
You can enable or disable the legend, change its position and show or hide specific elements by clicking them.
It is also handy to enable gridlines for axes.
This chart can be filtered via the Brush filter by default. You can use this filter by clicking and dragging on an area of the chart. The "Clear filter" button will return the dashboard to the initial, unfiltered state. You can also disable the "Brush filter" in the "Interactivity" section of the chart settings.
Charts similar to the bubble plot are the scatter plot and grouped scatter plot charts.