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datanibbler
Champion
Champion

My quest for the best way to visualize figures on different scales

Hi,

I have two figures, both out of an Excel_list, that I want to display in a barchart. Sounds simple, no? Well, take this:

- The first figure is "lorries arriving on a given day" which usually numbers in the dozens or so.

- The second is "boxes arriving on a given day" which usually numbers in the hundreds (every lorry can contain any number of boxes)

I want to display the two as close as possible so that it is clear at first sight which two figures (a # of lorries and a # of boxes) are associated with a given day.

- I cannot use one chart with the Trellis_option (which would effectually give me two charts) as the two scales are so different - the axes
   automatically adapt to the largest figure (which would be a # of boxes), so the # of lorries would be hardly visible.

- Putting two separate charts side by side is quite ok, but it still requires "looking twice", so to speak, to notice the two different figures
   associated with one day.

One thing that would be a solution if I can do it which I don't know is creating a horizontal barchart with the 0_line in the middle and with the bars for the lorries going right and the bars for boxes going left - but I don't know if I could use two different scales with that - I rather doubt it.

Now I came up with the idea of using two separate charts below each other and turning the lower one around - with the columns going down, not up. Then I just have to deactivate the display of the dimension for one of them and move them close to each other and get rid of a part of the frames.

Maybe someone here has some idea that could help me to further improve this visualization? There are also some more figures to come, I don't know whether it will be possible/ sensible to display those in the same diagram(s).

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler

50 Replies
datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi,

flipside, you have proposed something else still - that basically gives me two charts stacked on each other, no?

That also looks good - I'll include it in the portfolio of different visualizations I'll send to our CR-manager.

I now have the construct using two barcharts side_by_side looking quite good. I'll have to somehow make sure the dimension_axis doesn't change when I select another week which might, in combination with a month, have but two or three  days. But I think that can be done, it's just a bit time_consuming as I guess it will involve some more line_objects with visibility_conditions.

One challenge I am now facing concerns the left of the two charts: How can I get the axis to use smaller intervals? 1.000 is a bit much, 500 would already be a lot better.

Ah, ok, I've got it.

Thanks a lot!

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

The second example is still only one chart so keeps the dimension axis consistent (note the dotted line to help the user determine which day the data values relate to). It allows for the user to see the figures more easily than my first example, but the first allows the user to compare/correlate the data values quicker.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi flipside,

I'm afraid you'll have to explain the thing about coloring the axes a bit more - I still can't seem to do it.

On the "axes" tab, in the top half, I have my two expressions of course, for both I have a colour_box towards the bottom left of the top frame. But well, my expressions (there are to "lorry#" actually, for early and late shift) have a colour assigned on the "formulas" tab and changing the colour in that box doesn't seem to have any effect.

What am I doing wrong here?`

Thanks a lot!

P.S.: Sorry, I didn't mention that at the beginning - I have 2 and 2 expressions to display, not just 1 and 1. That makes your first suggestion look a bit crowded, with two bars for every day and two lines. I'll try the second one.

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

Have you set a width, if set to 0pt it won't show. Also watch for the chosen expression setting back to the first one when you click Apply - always catches me out, that one.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Ah, ok, that works. But it only colours a line along the y-axis for me, not the numbers as it does in your example ...

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

That's right. For the numbers you have to click on Font and set the colour separately.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Ah. Of course. I'll try that.

I just tried to get the scales a bit better populated - I cannot display the values in or on the segments, that gets too crowded to the point of illegibility. So the axis must suffice - but it was a bit meager, just having the values 0 and 50 in the lower half and 0 and 2000 in the upper half - but it did have a second 0_line in the middle.

<=> Now I have set min and max for all the axis and that works, but now I seem to have lost that second 0_axis which is unfortunate because I used it to display a red line to separate the two charting_areas ...

Ah, there it is again - it seems that the max of the axis must be greater than the largest figure there is to display, then that second 0_axis is displayed. Well, that might prove challenging going forward - this week, volume is extremely low, so the biggest number of lorries on one day is about 50 - in busier weeks, it might just as well be 100 and with min and max fixed for each scale, that will not be reflected in my chart ...

I do like that chart, it makes everything look neat and tidy.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi flipside,

I have just tried out a new variation of your chart because I guess our customer will not be that interested in the categorization of early and late shift, but jut want the total figures per day.

Now, in that chart, I can easily set the Design to "Stacked" and the columns in the lower half stack up neat.

<=> But I ´cannot stack lines and switching the two expressions in the upper half to columns make them stack onto the lower half and QlikView does no more keep any visible separation of the two halfs.

I guess an area_chart (with the complete area between the 0-line and the line coloured) is something completely different which I cannot combine into this, or can I?

quriouss
Creator III
Creator III

To keep it simple, and assuming you know what scale your figures are, I would just divide one of the numbers by 10 (or whatever makes sense).

I do the same with my data all the time;

No. of Clients = 12

Total Spend = $10,000

Total Spend / 1000 = $10

(Just make sure you label appropriately - in this instance I would use the format "$0k" to get "$10k"

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

You can 'sort of' stack lines, you just need to create a total expression by summing the two line expressions. The colouring gets complicated though as the text on the datapoint has to be done in the expression under Text Color.

LorryBox2.png