Dot Plot Chart

A dot plot represents a measure by its individual data points (without aggregation).

dot plot chart example

This type of chart can be useful when the dataset is very small, with fewer than approximately 20 data points for each dimension value.

If the dataset contains too many records, the chart will not be able to display all the data points.

Follow the steps below to create a dot plot:

If you are new to charting, see the following sections first:

Configure Your Data…​

The data source for the chart (data block or data model) should represent dimensions and measures as independent columns or fields, as shown below. See Prepare Your Data for information on how to manipulate your data, if it is not currently in this form. (Note: A properly designed data model will already have the correct structure.)

data source with dimensions and measures as columns

In some cases (e.g., Pie Chart), you may want your data to provide just a single measure. In other cases (e.g., Line Chart), you may want the data to supply multiple measures. If the data does not provide the correct number of measures, you may be able to alter the number of measures to suit the needs of the chart by “pivoting” or “unpivoting” the data. See Pivot Data in Prepare Your Data for more information about this procedure.

Open a Chart for Editing…​
Watch Video: Create a Chart (Open the Chart Editor)

This video might show an earlier version of the feature or operation that differs in minor ways from the current version.

Follow the steps below to get started with a new Chart. See Basic Charting Steps for more details.

  1. If necessary, create a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  2. From the Toolbox panel, drag a Chart component into the Dashboard.

    drag Chart component into Dashboard

  3. Resize the Chart as desired by dragging the handles.

    drag handles to resize Chart

  4. Press the ’Edit’ button in the center of the Chart or press the ‘Edit’ button Edit in the top-right corner.

    press Edit button on Chart

    This opens the same Visualization Recommender available for creating a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)

  5. To bypass the Recommender, press the ‘Full Editor’ button Full Editor at the top right to open the Chart Editor.

    press Full Editor to open Chart Editor

  1. Press the ‘Select Chart Style’ button Select Chart Style. Choose ‘Point’ and enable the ‘Stack’ option at the bottom. Press ‘Apply’ button Apply.

    select Point chart style and enable Stack

    ‘Point’ is the default chart style when numerical dimensions are used.

  2. From the ‘Dimensions’ folder of the Data Source panel, drag a desired dimension to the ‘X’ region.

    What is a dimension?

    A dimension is used to break-down the dataset into multiple groups, often within a Crosstab, Chart, or Selection List. Adding a dimension to the ‘X’ region of a Chart distinguishes the different dimension groups by location on the X-axis. Adding a dimension to the ‘Y’ region distinguishes the different dimension groups by location on the Y-axis. You can add multiple dimensions into the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ regions of a Chart, or into the ‘Rows’ or ‘Columns’ regions of a Crosstab, to create multiple grouping levels. You can also distinguish groups in a dimension by using color, shape, size, or label in a Chart.

    drag dimension to X region

    To convert a measure to a dimension, right-click the measure in the data source and select ‘Convert to Dimension’.

  3. Optional: You can add additional dimensions to the Chart if desired. See Trellis Chart (Grid) for information about adding multiple dimensions to a chart axis.

  4. From the ‘Measures’ folder of the Data Source panel, drag a measure to the ‘Break By’ region.

    What is a measure?

    A measure is generally used for aggregation, for example summation, averaging, correlation, etc., within a Crosstab, Chart, Text component, or Gauge. Adding a measure to the ‘Y’ region in a chart displays the computed aggregates by using locations on the Y-axis. Adding a measure to the ‘X’ region displays the computed aggregates by using locations on the X-axis. You can also display aggregates by using color, shape, size, or label.

    drag measure to Break By region

    To convert a dimension to a measure, right-click the dimension in the data source and select ‘Convert to Measure’.

    Alternatively, you can drag the measure field to the ‘Color’, ‘Shape’, or ‘Size’ regions of the bottom panel if you wish to distinguish the data points using a visual format.

  5. Press the ‘Edit Measure’ button Edit Measure next to the measure. Set the ‘Aggregate’ property to ‘None’, and press the ‘Apply’ button Apply.

    set aggregate to None for measure

  6. Optional: You can add additional measures to the Chart if desired. See Multiple Measure Chart for more information about adding multiple measures to a chart axis.

  7. Optional: To display a dimension value in the chart tooltip, drag the dimension from the data source panel to the ‘Break By’ region next to the existing measure field.

    drag dimension to Break By region

    This will allow the chart tooltip to display both the measure and dimension values, as shown below (‘customer_id’ and ‘company_name’, in this example).

    tooltip shows measure and dimension values

  8. Optional: To make the points larger, press the ‘Edit’ button next to the ‘Size’ field in the bottom panel, and select a larger size. Click away from the panel to make the change to the chart.

    select larger size for data points

  9. Press the ‘Finish’ button Finish to close the Editor.

You can proceed to edit the titles, legend, etc. See Basic Charting Steps and Chart Properties for more information. See Add Data Format for information on how to format text on a Chart.