I think bubble plots are one of the best ways to show relationships between variables. However, there are times when the graph's bubbles are positioned so close together it's difficult to determine what their associated data values are. Wouldn't it be nice is if we could get some guidelines which assist in showing the positions of the bubbles in relation to the x and y axes?
Well I have good news! In the Custom Graph Builder we can build a bubble plot where we can add these guidelines! Take a look at the graph below which compares the amount of forest area (in square kilometers) in different countries for the years 1990 and 2011. Notice how the faded dashed lines assist the report consumer in seeing the positions of the bubbles' data values on the x and y axes.
Using this graph, it’s very easy to see not only where these data points are located within their respective data ranges, but also what their individual values are.
Get the details on the graph's source data and how to re-create this chart in this SAS Communities Library article.
Data obtained from this Curriculum Pathways Data Depot resource and processed with SAS Visual Analytics 8.3.1.
This branch contains the needed resources to recreate this custom graph including:
- The code to which creates the final forest_area data set - forest_area_ETL.sas
- A JSON file containing the completed custom graph - BubblePlotGuidelines_CG.json
- A JSON file containing the completed report - BubblePlotGuidelines.json