Radar Chart

A Radar Chart (also called a spider chart or web chart) typically allows you to visualize a single measure along several dimensions, or multiple measures along a single dimension.

What is a measure? What is a dimension?

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.

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.

radarChartExp8

To create a radar chart, follow the basic steps below:

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.)

dataStructureCharts

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.

If necessary, create a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)
From the Toolbox panel, drag a Chart component into the Dashboard.
Resize the Chart as desired by dragging the handles.
Press the ’Edit’ button in the center of the Chart or press the ‘Edit’ button in the top-right corner.

This opens the same Visualization Recommender available for creating a new Dashboard. (See Create a New Dashboard.)
To bypass the Recommender, press the ‘Full Editor’ button at the top right to open the Chart Editor.

Press the ‘Select Chart Style’ button . Choose the ‘Radar’ or ‘Filled Radar’ style. Press the ‘Apply’ button .
Determine whether your data contains a single measure or multiple measures.
If you have multiple measures, and want each measure to be represented by an axis, follow the steps below:
Multiple Measures
1. From the ‘Measures’ folder of the Data Source panel, drag two or more measures (typically, three or more) to the ‘Y’ region. This places the selected fields onto the chart as measures.
2. To break-out the data set into groups using color, shape, size, or text labeling, drag a dimension from the Data Source panel to the ‘Color’, ‘Shape’, ‘Size’, or ‘Text’ region.
If you have a single measure, and want the values of a dimension to be represented by the axes, follow the steps below:
Single Measure
1. From the Data Source panel, drag a single measure to the ‘Y’ region.
2. From the Data Source panel, drag the dimension whose values will define the axes to the ‘Break By’ field.
3. To break-out the data set into further groups using color, shape, size, or text labeling, drag a dimension from the Data Source panel to the ‘Color’, ‘Shape’, ‘Size’, or ‘Text’ region.
Optional: Right-click on the Y-axis title and select ‘Hide Title’ from the context menu.
Optional: Move the legend to provide the chart with more space.
Optional: For a date dimension, press the ‘Edit Dimension’ button next to the field name in the Chart Editor, and set the ‘Level’ to the desired date grouping. Then press the ‘Apply’ button .
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.
Press the ‘Edit Measure’ button next to each measure, and select the desired ‘Aggregate’ and ‘Trend and Comparison’ method for the measure.

For radar charts, it is often desirable to set the ‘Trend and Comparison’ property to ‘Percent of Grant Total’.
Optional: To represent a measure by using tooltip information, drag the measure to the ‘Break By/Tooltip’ region.
To change the measure labels, right-click on a measure label and select ‘Axis Properties’ from the context menu.

This opens the ‘Axis Properties’ panel.
Select the Alias tab, and modify the alias values as desired. Press OK to apply the new labels.
Press the ‘Finish’ button 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.

Explore More…

The sample Auto Insurance Overview Dashboard provides an example of a radar chart.

galleryBar2

To explore this sample Dashboard, download and import the Auto Insurance Overview Dashboard into your environment. (This requires access to Enterprise Manager.) See Import and Export Assets for instructions on how to import.