A Packed bubble chart is a cluster of circles where we use dimensions to define individual bubbles, and the size and/or color of the individual circles represent measures. Bubble charts have many benefits and one of them is to let us spot categories easily and compare them to the rest of the data by looking at the size of the bubble. This simple data visualization technique can provide insight in a visually attractive format.
The Packed Bubble chart in Tableau uses the Circle mark type.
To create a packed bubble chart, we will continue with the same example that we saw in the Treemap recipe. In the following section, we will see how we can convert the Treemap we created earlier into a Packed Bubble chart.
- Let us duplicate the
Tree Mapsheet name and rename it toPacked Bubble chart. - Next, change the marks from Square to Circle from the Marks dropdown in the Marks card. The output will be as shown in the following image:
In the Packed Bubble chart, there is no specific sort of order for Bubbles. The size and/or color are what defines the chart; the bigger or darker the circle, the greater the value.
So, in the preceding example, we have Sales in the Size shelf, Profit in the Color shelf, and Sub-Category in the Label shelf.
Thus, when we look at it, we understand that Phones has the most sales. Further, Copiers has the highest profit. Tables, on the other hand, is non-profitable even though the size indicates that the sales are fairly good.