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L2 Bar Line Charts

Bar and line charts are common visualization techniques. Bar charts show comparisons among categories using horizontal or vertical bars, with one axis for a quantitative value and another for nominal or ordinal classes. Variations include vertical/horizontal bars, histograms, grouped bars, and stacked bars. Line charts use lines to show changes in continuous data over an independent variable like time, and can compare multiple categories. Both visualizations encode values like maximum, minimum, and range, and have pros like highlighting comparisons but cons like inconsistent scales between charts.

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98 views26 pages

L2 Bar Line Charts

Bar and line charts are common visualization techniques. Bar charts show comparisons among categories using horizontal or vertical bars, with one axis for a quantitative value and another for nominal or ordinal classes. Variations include vertical/horizontal bars, histograms, grouped bars, and stacked bars. Line charts use lines to show changes in continuous data over an independent variable like time, and can compare multiple categories. Both visualizations encode values like maximum, minimum, and range, and have pros like highlighting comparisons but cons like inconsistent scales between charts.

Uploaded by

rajitkurup
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BAR AND LINE CHARTS

Outline

• Bar charts and line charts


- Definitions
- Variations
- What gets encoded?
- Pros and cons
What visualization techniques do we know?
Bar chart

• Definition: a visualization that uses either horizontal or


vertical bars to show comparisons among categories

One axis
shows a
quantitative
value

The other axis


shows the classes
(nominal or ordinal)
being compared
Variations: vertical

• Discrete “bins” along the


horizontal (x) axis
• Height of bar indicates the
total value for each bin
• Note: each data point falls
into just one category (why
is this important?)
Variations: horizontal

• Discrete “bins” along the


vertical (y) axis
• Width of bar indicates the
total value for each bin
• Note: each data point falls
into just one category (why
is this important?)
Variations: histogram

• Presents continuous data


broken into bins
• In theory, we could see
any value in the range
• Often have minimal
spacing between bars to
help show the “shape”
Variations: grouped

• Each category is split into


sub-categories
• Bars in the same top-level
category are adjacent to
one another
• Note: each category is
split into the same sub-
categories, and they
appear in the same order
(why is this important?)
Variations: stacked

• Each category is split into


sub-categories
• Bars in the same top-level
category are stacked on
top of one another
• Note: each category is
split into the same sub-
categories, and they
appear in the same order
(why is this important?)
• Can also stacking to show
part-of-whole relationships
What gets encoded
Maximum value
(tallest Use
bar) reference
lines to show
average value
Range
(difference b/t
tallest and
Minimum value shortest bars)
(shortest bar)
Pros and cons

• What’s good about bar charts?


• What’s not so good?
Things to watch out for
Things to watch out for

• Inconsistent scales: if you’re comparing between two or


more charts, be sure they have the same scale!
Things to watch out for
Things to watch out for

• Inconsistent intervals: if you’re comparing between two


or more charts, be sure they’re divided the same way!
Recap: bar charts
• Generally used for comparable variables
• Shows quantitative values for different observations
• Highlights relative amounts
• Grouped/stacked bars can break variables into different sub-groups
Line chart

• Definition: a visualization that uses lines to show


changes in continuous data

Vertical axis
shows the
dependent
variable

Horizontal axis
shows the
independent
variable
Variations: time series

• Most commonly appearing


line charts in practice
• Used to show data that
changes over time
Variations: multiple independent lines

• Compare changes across


multiple categories
• Use a legend to help
distinguish between
categories
• Important: if you’re
showing multiple trends,
they should all have the
same scale (why?)
What gets encoded
Use trend lines
Maximum value to show overall
(tallest peak) rate of change

Highlights
position changes

Minimum value
(lowest valley)
Pros and cons

• What’s good about line charts?


• What’s not so good?
Things to watch out for

• Intervals should always be


equal in size
• If there are missing values,
indicate it
- But we should only connect
values that are adjacent
- How might we show missing
values?
Things to watch out for
Beware comparisons that have different scales!
Recap: line charts
• Shows the trend in one variable, often over time
• Multiple lines can show multiple variables, or the same variable for
multiple observations (must have the same scale!)
• Highlights “position switches”

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