Available Built-in Graphboard Visualization Types

You can create several different visualization types. All of the following built-in types are available on both the Basic and Detailed tabs. Some of the descriptions for the templates (especially the map templates) identify the fields (variables) specified on the Detailed tab using special text.

Table 1. Available graph types
Chart icon	Description	Chart icon	Description
	Bar Calculates a summary statistic for a continuous numeric field and displays the results for each category of a categorical field as bars. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field.		Bar of Counts Displays the proportion of rows/cases in each category of a categorical field as bars. You can also use the Distribution graph node to produce this graph. That node offers some additional options. See the topic Distribution Node for more information. Requires: A single categorical field.

	Pie Calculates the sum of a continuous numeric field and displays the proportion of that sum distributed in each category of a categorical field as slices of a pie. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field.		Pie of Counts Displays the proportion of rows/cases in each category of a categorical field as slices of a pie. Requires: A single categorical field.

	3-D Bar Calculates a summary statistic for a continuous numeric field and displays the results for the crossing of categories between two categorical fields. Requires: A pair of categorical fields and a continuous field.		3-D Pie This is the same as Pie except with an additional 3-D effect. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field.

	Line Calculates a summary statistic for a field for each value of another field and draws a line connecting the values. You can also use the Plot graph node to produce a line plot graph. That node offers some additional options. See the topic Plot Node for more information. Requires: A pair of fields of any type.		Area Calculates a summary statistic for a field for each value of another field and draws an area connecting the values. The difference between a line and area is minimal in that an area resembles a line with the space colored below it. However, if you use a color aesthetic, this results in a simple split of the line and a stacking of the area. Requires: A pair of fields of any type.

	3-D Area Displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another and split by a categorical field. An area element is drawn for each category. Requires: A categorical field and a pair of fields of any type.		Path Displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another, with a line connecting the values in the order they appear in the original dataset. The ordering is the primary difference between a path and a line. Requires: A pair of fields of any type.

	Ribbon Calculates a summary statistic for a field for each value of another field and draws a ribbon connecting the values. A ribbon is essentially a line with 3-D effects. It is not a true 3-D graph. Requires: A pair of fields of any type.		Surface Displays the values of three fields plotted against the values of one another, with a surface connecting the values. Requires : Three fields of any type.

	Scatterplot Displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another. This graph can highlight the relationship between the fields (if there is one). You can also use the Plot graph node to produce a scatterplot. That node offers some additional options. See the topic Plot Node for more information. Requires: A pair of fields of any type.		Bubble plot Like a basic scatterplot, displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another. The difference is that the values of a third field are used to vary the size of the individual points. Requires: Three fields of any type.

	Binned Scatterplot Like a basic scatterplot, displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another. The difference is that similar values are binned into groups and that the color or size aesthetic is used to indicate the number of cases in each bin. Requires : A pair of continuous fields.		Hex Binned Scatterplot See the description of Binned Scatterplot. The difference is the shape of the underlying bins, which are shaped like hexagons rather than circles. The resulting hex binned scatterplot looks similar to the binned scatterplot. However, the number of values in each bin will differ between the graphs because of the shape of the underlying bins. Requires: A pair of continuous fields.

	3-D Scatterplot Displays the values of three fields plotted against each other. This graph can highlight the relationship between the fields (if there is one). You can also use the Plot graph node to produce a 3-D scatterplot. That node offers some additional options. See the topic Plot Node for more information. Requires: Three fields of any type.		Scatterplot Matrix (SPLOM) Displays the values of one field plotted against the values of another for every field. A SPLOM is like a table of scatterplots. The SPLOM also includes a histogram of each field. Requires: Two or more continuous fields.

	Histogram Displays the frequency distribution of a field. A histogram can help you determine the distribution type and see whether the distribution is skewed. You can also use the Histogram graph node to produce this graph. That node offers some additional options. See the topic Histogram Plot Tab for more information. Requires: A single field of any type.		Histogram with Normal Distribution Displays the frequency distribution of a continuous field with a superimposed curve of the normal distribution. Requires: A single continuous field.

	3-D Histogram Displays the frequency distribution of a pair of continuous fields. Requires : A pair of continuous fields.		3-D Density Displays the frequency distribution of a pair of continuous fields. This is similar to a 3-D histogram, with the only difference being that a surface is used instead of bars to show the distribution. Requires: A pair of continuous fields.

	Dot plot Displays the individual cases/rows and stacks them at the distinct data points on the x axis. This graph is similar to a histogram in that it shows the distribution of the data, but it displays each case/row rather than an aggregated count for a specific bin (range of values). Requires : A single field of any type.		2-D Dot Plot Displays the individual cases/rows and stacks them at the distinct data points on the y axis for each category of a categorical field. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field.

	Boxplot Calculates the five statistics (minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, and maximum) for a continuous field for each category of a categorical field. The results are displayed as boxplot/schema elements. The boxplots can help you see how the distribution of continuous data varies among the categories. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field.		Heat map Calculates the mean for a continuous field for the crossing of categories between two categorical fields. Requires : A pair of categorical fields and a continuous field.

	Parallel Creates parallel axes for each field and draws a line through the field value for every row/case in the data. Requires: Two or more continuous fields.		Choropleth of Counts Calculates the count for each category of a categorical field ( Data Key) and draws a map that uses color saturation to represent the counts in the map features that correspond to the categories. Requires : A categorical field. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Choropleth of Means/Medians/Sums Calculates the mean, median, or sum of a continuous field ( Color) for each category of a categorical field (Data Key) and draws a map that uses color saturation to represent the calculated statistics in the map features that correspond to the categories. Requires: A categorical field and a continuous field. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.		Choropleth of Values Draws a map that uses color to represent values of a categorical field (Color) for the map features that correspond to values defined by another categorical field ( Data Key). If there are multiple categorical values of the Color field for each feature, the modal value is used. Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Coordinates on a Choropleth of Counts This is similar to Choropleth of Counts except that there are two additional continuous fields (Longitude and Latitude) that identify coordinates for drawing points on the choropleth map. Requires: A categorical field and a pair of continuous fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.		Coordinates on a Choropleth of Means/Medians/Sums This is similar to Choropleth of Means/Medians/Sums except that there are two additional continuous fields ( Longitude and Latitude ) that identify coordinates for drawing points on the choropleth map. Requires : A categorical field and three continuous fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Coordinates on a Choropleth of Values This is similar to Choropleth of Values except that there are two additional continuous fields (Longitude and Latitude) that identify coordinates for drawing points on the choropleth map. Requires: A pair of categorical fields and a pair of continuous fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.		Bars of Counts on a Map Calculates the proportion of rows/cases in each category of a categorical field (Categories) for each map feature (Data Key) and draws a map and the bar charts at the center of each map feature. Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Bars on a Map Calculates a summary statistic for a continuous field ( Values) and displays the results for each category of a categorical field (Categories ) for each map feature (Data Key ) as bar charts positioned in the center of each map feature. Requires: A pair of categorical fields and a continuous field. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.		Pie of Counts of a Map Displays the proportion of rows/cases in each category of a categorical field ( Categories) for each map feature ( Data Key) and draws a map and the proportions as slices of a pie chart at the center of each map feature. Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Pie on a Map Calculates the sum of a continuous field (Values ) in each category of a categorical field ( Categories) for each map feature ( Data Key) and draws a map and the sums as slices of a pie chart at the center of each map feature. Requires: A pair of categorical fields and a continuous field. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.		Line Chart on a Map Calculates a summary statistic for a continuous field (Y) for each value of another field (X) for each map feature (Data Key) and draws a map and line charts connecting the values at the center of each map feature. Requires: A categorical field and a pair of fields of any type. A map file whose key matches the Data Key categories.

	Coordinates on a Reference Map Draws a map and points using continuous fields (Longitude and Latitude) that identify coordinates for the points. Requires: A pair of range fields. A map file.		Arrows on a Reference Map Draws a map and arrows using continuous fields that identify the start points (Start Long and Start Lat) and end points (End Long and End Lat) for each arrow. Each record/case in the data results in an arrow in the map. Requires : Four continuous fields. A map file.

	Point Overlay Map Draws a reference map and superimposes another point map over it with point features colored by a categorical field (Color). Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A point map file whose key matches the Data Key categories. A reference map file.		Polygon Overlay Map Draws a reference map and superimposes another polygon map over it with polygon features colored by a categorical field (Color). Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A polygon map file whose key matches the Data Key categories. A reference map file.

	Line Overlay Map Draws a reference map and superimposes another line map over it with line features colored by a categorical field (Color). Requires: A pair of categorical fields. A line map file whose key matches the Data Key categories. A reference map file.