Tag: Map Layers

Regional Sales Readout

Donna ColesLeave a comment

The challenge this week from Ann Jackson was all about map layers, a feature introduced in v 2020.4. As an extra twist Ann specified that you couldn’t use table calculations or LoDs, and that the viz should all be on a single sheet.

The key features of this challenge are

  • display the map segmented by region
  • colour the borders of each region with different colours
  • display the cities sized by sales
  • display sales per region
  • on hover of a city, display city sales, city name and % of regional sales

Display the map segmented by region

Maps work with geographic data types, so to split map by Region, the field needs to be converted to this type. To do this, right click on Region > Geographic Role > Create From > State

Double clicking on Region should automatically create a map visual. Change the mark type to filled map, and you’ll see the region boundaries.

Strip off all the background & labels etc via the Map > Map Layers menu. Uncheck all the options on the right hand side.

Set the colour of the map to grey (via the Colour shelf), then set the background of the worksheet to a darker grey/black. Remove row & column dividers.

Colour the borders of each region with different colours

On the colour shelf, you can set a border colour, but this is a fixed single colour, not one that can be associated to a field. This is where the map layers start to come in.

We need to create a layer per region.

To start we need a calculated field

West Region

IF [Region]=’West’ THEN [Region] END

This should still be a geographic role (if it hasn’t got a globe symbol next to it, then make it geographic as you did above).

Drag this field onto the map, and drop it on the Add a Marks Layer symbol that displays. A new West Region marks card will display. Change the mark type to filled map.

Now on the Colour shelf, reduce the opacity to 0. Change the border colour to #7ec886, and the halo to None.

Finally, and this is the really sneaky bit that took me some time to figure out, right click on the Null on the legend on the right hand side, and Hide. Only the West region now has the coloured border.

Repeat these same steps for the Central (#82d7d6), East (#b6b6dd) and South (#fd8b59) regions.

A final step at this point is to turn off tooltips across all 5 layers. Also, we don’t want the regions ‘highlighting’ as you hover the mouse over the map, so on each layer, disable selection

Display the cities sized by sales

Drag the City field onto the map, and drop it to create another layer. Drag State onto the Detail shelf of the City marks card (as there are some cities that are associated to different states).

Add Sales to Size and adjust accordingly.

Add Region to Colour, and reduce the Opacity to suit. Remove tooltips from displaying.

Display sales per region

Add another layer by dragging Region onto the map again. Change the mark type to Text. Add Sales to the Text shelf. Format appropriately. Set Disable Selection on the layer.

Good practice, rename the layer to Sales Text or similar.

On hover of a city, display city sales, city name and % of regional sales

For this we need to store a selected city, and we’ll use sets to do this. I did this by right-clicking on one of the cities in the viz, and choosing Create Set. Rename the set Selected City.

We can now work out the value of the Sales for this city, and the % of sales.

Selected City Sales

IF [Selected City] THEN [Sales] END

format to $ 0dp

% Total Sales

SUM([Selected City Sales])/SUM([Sales])

format to % 1dp.

Add these onto the Text shelf of the Sales Text marks card and format.

Now we want to add the City Name, some other additional text.

Selected City Name

IF [Selected City] THEN [City] END

However, if you add this field to the Text shelf, the marks move and things go a bit crazy.

I had to ponder about this for a long time, and I can’t explain why it does it. However it didn’t happen when I added measures (green pills) to the Text shelf. So I converted the field to a measure by editing the field and changing it to

Selected City Name

MIN(IF [Selected City] THEN [City] END)

Adding this to the Text shelf and the text stayed where it was.

A further calculated field is required, which is simply

Selected City Sub Text

MIN(IF [Selected City] THEN ‘OF REGION TOTAL’ END)

Add this and adjust the text.

So now we have the text showing, we need to make it change based on hover.

Add the map to a dashboard, then add a set action (Dashboard > Action > Add Action > Change Set Values)

Set the properties as below, and then test the interactivity by hovering over different cities.

Hopefully that’s everything you need to complete this challenge. The borders and the ‘moving marks’ certainly caused me sometime of puzzlement, but it is a very satisfying feeling when you get that ‘lightbulb’ moment. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’! Stay Safe!

Donna

Can you hide a chart in map layers?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

Candra set the challenge this week to use the new map layers to build a map display which, on click of a country, filtered the display to that country and additionally displayed a donut chart indicating the percentage of urban dwellers in that country.

If map layers are very new to you, then the webinar by Adam McCann referenced in the challenge, has some VERY useful pointers for this challenge (the workbook for that can be downloaded from here, as I found some things needed closer inspection).

I think this challenge is going to be best described by walking through the steps.

Building the 1st map layer

Double-Click on Country/Region to load a map, and change the mark type to (filled) Map. Add Region to the Colour shelf and assign the appropriate colours. Adjust the map background via the Map -> Map Layers menu and set the Style to dark, and remove all the selections against the Map Layers list

The intention is when a country is selected the map will ‘drill into’ /filter that country, and display additional information. We will drive this by a parameter, which will get set via a parameter action, but for now we’ll manually set the value.

Create a new string parameter, that is default to nothing/empty string/ ”, and then show this on your sheet.

pSelectedCountry

We need the 1st layer of the map to display, when there is no value in the parameter. We need a calculated field to help drive this.

All Countries

IF [pSelectedCountry]=” THEN [Country/Region] END

By default this will create a field of type ‘string’ but we need it to be a geographic data type. so change this as below.

Add this field to the Detail shelf of the map, and remove the Country/Region field that was automatically added when we first built the map.

Enter the name of a country, eg China, into the parameter. The map should essentially go blank (black screen).

Building the 2nd map layer

We need the country to display, if it’s entered into the parameter. For this, we need another calculated field

Selected Country

IF [pSelectedCountry]=[Country/Region] THEN [Country/Region] END

Once again change this to a geographic role data type of type County/Region.

Next click and drag this field onto the map, and drop it onto the Add Marks Layer option that displays. This will create a new Selected Country marks card, although nothing will obviously change on the map display itself.

Move the Selected Country pill to be on the Detail shelf instead, and add Region onto the Colour shelf. Change the mark type from circle to Map.

Now if you enter a county into the parameter, eg China, the display should ‘filter’ & ‘zoom in’ on China.

So what we have is the 1st layer only showing when no countries have been selected, and vice versa, the 2nd layer only showing when a country has been selected.

We need to now add further layers for the donut chart, which only want to show the country has been selected as well.

Building the 3rd map layer

A donut chart, in the past, is traditionally created by building a pie chart, then using a dual axis to add a circle, sized smaller that the pie chart, on top (see this Tableau KB for info). Rather than a dual axis, we’re going to use map layers – 1 layer for the pie chart, and then another layer for the central circle.

Keeping a country selected (so we can see what we’re building), drag Selected Country onto the map again to create another map layer. Change the mark type to Pie and increase the Size to as large as possible. Move Selected Country to Detail.

In the data set we have a field called Population Urban which stores the ‘percentage’ value of urban dwellers eg 0.17 is 17%. To create the angles for the pie chart, we need to know

Population Non-Urban

1-[Population Urban]

Drag Measure Values onto the Angle shelf. This will automatically add Measure Names to the Filter shelf. Edit the filter to just select the Population Urban and Population Non-Urban measures. Drag the Measure Names field that was also automatically added to the Detail shelf, to the Colour shelf. Adjust colours accordingly, and set the border of the pie chart to white (under the Colour shelf options).

Verify that if you set the parameter to empty again, the whole world map displays, and you can’t see any pie charts.

Building the 4th map layer

Now we need to make the donut hole. Once again, ensure a country is selected, so your pie chart is visible, then drag Selected Country onto the map again, and drop to add another map layer.

This time, move the Selected Country field onto the Detail shelf, add Region to the Colour shelf, and adjust the size of the circle, so its smaller than the pie. Set the border of the circle to be white again too,

Add Population Urban onto the Label shelf, and format to a percentage with 0 dp. The best way to do this, is to format the Population Urban measure in the data pane (right click->default properties -> number format).

At this point you’ll notice the number is huge… we need to add Year to the Filter shelf, and select 2012.

Align the label to be middle centre, and adjust the font to be much bigger text. Add ‘urban dwellers’ underneath.

Once again, verify you get the expected behaviour as you change the values in the parameter from nothing to Russia or China etc.

The final step on this sheet is to add text to the Tooltips. Unlike when working with dual axis, you don’t have an All marks card, so you’ll need to add the required fields (Country/Region, Region, Population Total (formatted to Millions with 0dp), Population Urban to the Tooltip shelf on each of the relevant layers.

Setting the parameter interactively

Create a dashboard sheet, and add the map sheet you’ve built. Then create a dashboard action which sets the pSelectedCountry parameter, impacting the All Countries field, and that when the selection is cleared, the value is reset to ”.

My published viz is available here. Enjoy!

Happy vizzin’! Stay Safe!

Donna

Can you use map layers to show profit at state and city levels?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

It was Sean Miller’s turn to present this week’s #WOW2021 challenge, and one of the common features of Sean’s challenges is to utilise new features of Tableau. So for this challenge, you’re going to need v2020.4 (or higher if you’re reading this in a few months time 🙂 )

The core components of this challenge are relatively basic, and I am therefore making assumptions you know how to build a map and a bar chart. The focus for this will be on

  • Create the layered map
  • Sizing the circles (cities)
  • Colouring the circles (cities)
  • Removing interactivity on the states
  • Colouring the Profit on the Tooltip
  • Hover action from bar to cities

Create the layered map

Start by building out a basic filled map (double click State, then double click Profit and move Profit to the Colour shelf – if a map of the US doesn’t appear, you’ll need to edit locations via the Map -> Edit Locations option). Change the Profit colour legend to be red-black diverging, and set the centre point to 0. Remove all the map ‘features’, via the Map -> Map Layers option.

Then drag the City field onto the map, and when the Add a Marks Layer option appears, drop the field onto the ‘layer’ icon.

This will create a marks card for each field on the layers – one for City and one for State

Note if you get an indicator on the lower right of the map that suggests there’s multiple ‘unknown’ cities, click on the indicator to Edit Locations and make sure the State field is mapped to State.

Sizing the circles (cities)

The City layer needs to be sized based on Profit, so drag this field to the Size shelf of the City marks card. By default this will size from small to large with the smallest value being the lowest Profit value

But in the solution, you’ll see Profit is sized based on its ‘absolute’ value, ie -13,000 should be the same size as +13,000.

This was the last thing I actually resolved when building this viz, as it isn’t anything I’ve seen before. I knew it couldn’t be something too tricky, due to the nature of the current set of challenges, so I had a bit of google and discovered it’s just a case of setting the Sizes vary option to be From zero. You might need to the adjust the slider on the Size shelf itself to get the circles at an appropriate size

Colouring the circles (cities)

Create a calculated field

Profit is +ve?

SUM([Profit])>=0

which will return true or false and add this to the Colour shelf of the City marks card. Colour accordingly, and add a grey border to the circles (setting on the Colour shelf).

Removing interactivity on the states

As you move your mouse over the map, you’ll see the borders of the states are ‘selected’. To remove this, click the arrow next to the title of the State marks card, and choose Disable Selection.

As an additional step, remove the tooltips from showing on the State marks card.

Colouring the Profit on the Tooltip

The tooltip displays +ve profit in black and -ve profit in red. For this you’ll need two calculated fields, one to store the profit value only when it’s positive, and one to store the profit value only when it’s negative.

+ve Profit

IF [Profit +ve?] THEN SUM([Profit]) END

-ve Profit

IF NOT([Profit +ve?]) THEN SUM([Profit]) END

Add both these fields to the Tooltip shelf of the City marks card, then ensure they sit side by side in the tooltip text. Colour the text accordingly.

Hover action from bar to cities

When the 2 charts are on the dashboard, add a dashboard Highlight action to run on Hover from the Bar sheet to the Map sheet

Hopefully this has covered all the key points of this challenge. My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’! Stay Safe!

Donna

Can you show the top 10 products for each state?

Donna ColesLeave a comment

For this week’s #WOW2020 challenge, Sean Miller stripped things right back and went ‘back to basics’.

This blog should be brief as I’m only going to touch on the bits that I think some people might find a little tricky.

The Map Colours

Use the Red-Black Diverging colour palette, centred at 0 to ensure the colours match exactly (this is most noticeable on the Viz in Tooltip table if it’s not centred at 0).

Map Background

On the Map -> May Layers menu, ensure all the items under the Map Layers section are unchecked

Seaboard States

I used the MIN(1) on the Columns shelf and fixed the axis from 0-1 to fill it up.

Top 10 Products

Orders Count

I dragged Order ID into the ‘measures’ section (below the line on the left hand pane if you’re using later versions of Tableau), and chose the COUNTD aggregation. When I added this to the table, I then changed the alias of the field and called it ‘Orders’

Top 10

Add Product Name to the Filter shelf and select the Top tab.

Colouring the columns

This uses the Legend Per Measure functionality. Add Measure Values to the Colour shelf and select the Use Separate Legends option

This will add 3 colour legends onto the canvas. Set the colours of the Profit measure to the Red – Black diverging as with the map.

For the other 2 legends select any diverging colour palette, then click on the coloured square at each end, and select white from the palette displayed. Change the stepped colour to 2, and you’ll find that the measures now don’t look like they actually have a background colour.

Viz in Tooltip

When adding the sheet as a tooltip, I adjusted the size to 500×350

<Sheet name=”Top 10 Products” maxwidth=”500″ maxheight=”350″ filter=”<All Fields>”>

The size of the Top 10 Products sheet should be set to Entire View to ensure you don’t get a ‘View is too large to display’ message on the tooltip

Getting the Top 10 filtered properly

Once the viz has been added as a ‘viz in tooltip’ a State related filter pill will automatically be added to the Filter shelf of the the Top 10 Products sheet. To ensure the top 10 products gets filtered by the state BEFORE the top 10 products by sales are identified, the filter needs to be Added to Context

Arranging on the Dashboard

I managed to tile all the items, except for the ‘Eastern Seaboard States’ title which I floated.

My published viz is here.

Happy vizzin’! Stay Safe!

Donna