Data

Visualization
Dr. Hanan Aldowah

1
Course Topics
1 Overview of Data Visualization
2 Tables
3 Charts
4 Specialized Data Visualizations
5 Visualizing Geospatial Data
6 Data Dashboards
Summary

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Course Objectives (1 of 2)
After completing this Class, you will be able to:
LO -1 Apply concepts of preattentive attributes and data-ink ratio to
improve table and chart designs.
LO -2 Create and use PivotTables and PivotCharts to explore and
analyze data.
LO -3 Create and interpret scatter charts to examine the relationship
between two variables.
LO -4 Create and interpret line charts, bar charts, and column charts.
LO -5 Create and interpret trendlines fit to data on scatter charts and
line charts.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

Course Objectives (2 of 2)
LO -6 Create and interpret sorted bar (column) charts, clustered bar
(column) charts, and stacked bar (column) charts.
LO -7 Create and interpret bubble charts, scatter chart matrixes, and
table lenses to visualize the relationships among multiple
variables.
LO -8 Create and interpret heat maps, sparklines, treemaps, waterfall
charts, stock charts, and parallel coordinates plots to visualize
data.
LO -9 Create and interpret choropleth maps and cartograms for
applications to geospatial data.
LO -10 Apply the principles of effective data dashboards to suggest
designs for data dashboards.

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 What is data visualization?

➢ Data visualization represents data

and information in a graphical
way that is easy to understand.

✓ This makes it easy to identify patterns and

trends, spot inconsistencies and outliers, and
help an audience conclude the data that is being
presented.

5
What is data visualization?

• Visualizations can include

charts, maps, graphs,
and other elements that
help to simplify data.

6
 What is the importance of data visualization for modern businesses?

➢ Data visualization has become essential to any organizational data

analytics approach by providing businesses with the vital insights
they need in an easy-to-understand format.

➢ Every day your business generates more data on sales revenue,

marketing performance, customer interactions, production
metrics, staffing levels, costs, and other KPIs. But with so much
data to sift through, it can be difficult for people to see the story
it tells.

7
 Benefits of data visualization for modern businesses

What is the benefits of data visualization for modern businesses?

1. Enhances Understanding of Complex Data

▪ Data analytics often involves working with large

amounts of complex data, and extracting insights
without proper tools can be challenging. This is
where data visualization comes in.

8
 Benefits of data visualization for modern businesses

2. Helps in Identifying Trends, Patterns, and outliers

▪ Data visualization tools can represent data

in various ways, such as graphs, charts,
and maps, making it easier to identify
correlations and trends that may be
difficult to spot in raw data sets.

9
 Benefits of data visualization for modern businesses

3. Facilitates Data-Driven Decision Making

▪ Data visualization plays a crucial role in data-

driven decision-making.

✓ Businesses can make more informed decisions by

identifying new opportunities, detecting potential
problems, and monitoring process performance.

10
 Benefits of data visualization for modern businesses

4. Supports Collaboration and Communication:

▪ Visualized data can allow teams to quickly and
effectively convey ideas, insights, and findings
to one another, leading to better collaboration
and communication within the organization.

▪ Data visualization also makes it easier for

organizations to communicate their findings with
stakeholders by displaying data visually and
quickly, understanding what’s happening within the
organization and taking appropriate actions.

11
1. Preattentive Attributes
Cognitive load is the effort needed to accurately and efficiently process
information communicated by a data visualization.
• A data visualization with a reduced cognitive load is easier for the
viewer to interpret.
Preattentive attributes are features that can be used in a data visualization
to reduce the cognitive load required to interpret it.
• Preattentive attributes related to visual perception include

• color • shape
• size • length

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1.1 Application of Preattentive Attributes
The preattentive attributes of color and size aid with the counting of 7s

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 1.2 The Preattentive Attributes of Color, Size & Length
Color is extremely effective in differentiating data in a visualization.
• However, overuse of colors may become distracting.
• Color blindness may affect the ability to distinguish colors.
Size refers to the relative amount of space an object occupies in a
visualization.
• Most people struggle to estimate 2D relative size differences.
Length refers to the horizontal, vertical, or diagonal distance of a line
or bar/column.
• Length is useful for illustrating quantitative values because a
longer line corresponds to a larger value.

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1.3 Data-Ink Ratio
Data-ink ratio is the proportion of ink used for data to the total amount of ink
in a table or chart.
• The data-ink ratio is helpful for creating effective tables and charts for
data visualization
• Data-ink is the ink used in a table or chart that is necessary to
convey the meaning of the data to the audience
• Non-data-ink is the ink used in a table or chart that serves no useful
purpose in conveying the data to the audience
• Decluttering is the process of increasing the data-ink ratio in a chart.
Next, we consider two examples of decluttering in tables and charts for a data
sample of scarf sales.

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1.4 Increase of Data-Ink Ratio in Tables
Example of low data-ink table Example of high data-ink table

White space is the portion of a data visualization devoid of markings.

• White space use is equivalent to increasing the data-ink in a
visualization.

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1.5 Increase of Data-Ink Ratio in Charts
Example of low data-ink chart Example of high data-ink chart

Before presenting Excel-generated tables and charts to others, it is worth the

effort to modify/remove unnecessary default settings.

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2. Use of Tables to Display Precise Values
Tables should be used when
• the reader needs to refer to specific numerical values,
• the reader needs to make precise comparisons between values,
and
• the displayed values have different units or very different magnitudes.
Example of a table showing exact values of monthly costs and revenues for
Gossamer Industries. Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Total
Costs ($) 48,123 56,458 64,125 52,158 54,718 50,985 326,567
Revenues ($) 64,124 66,125 67,125 48,178 51,785 55,678 353,015

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2 .2 Combined Use of Charts and Tables
A single chart may make it very
difficult to determine the
monthly revenues and costs.
Combining a chart with a table
into a single figure allows the
reader to
• easily see the monthly
changes in revenues and
costs, and
• being able to refer to the
exact numerical values,
• while avoiding cluttering.

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 2.3 Use of Tables To Display Levels of Magnitudes
Suppose that you wish to display data on revenues, costs, and head count
for each month.
• Costs and revenues are measured in dollars, but head count is
measured in number of employees.
• Because of the different levels of magnitudes, a table is preferred over
a chart.
Month
Jan Feb Mar Apr May June Total
Head count 8 9 10 9 9 9
Costs ($) 48,123 56,458 64,125 52,158 54,718 50,985 326,567
Revenues ($) 64,124 66,125 67,125 48,178 51,785 55,678 353,015

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2.4 Table Design Principles
• Keep the data-ink ratio low. • Labels should be left-aligned.
• Use lines only to separate labels • Values should be right-aligned.
from data and calculated fields. • Center vertical labels.

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3. Crosstabulation
A crosstabulation is a useful approach to describing a tabular summary of
data for two variables.
DATAfile: restaurant
Consider the following application based on data from a Zagat’s Restaurant
Review consisting of a sample of 300 restaurants in Los Angeles.
Variables and types:
Quality rating (categorical) good, very good, or excellent
Meal Price (quantitative) expressed in dollars
Wait time (quantitative) expressed in minutes

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3.1 Crosstabulation of Quality Rating and Meal Price
• The right and bottom margins of the crosstabulation give the frequencies
of quality rating and meal price separately.
• The greatest number of restaurants in the sample (64) have a very good
rating and a meal price in the $20–29 range.
• Only two restaurants have an excellent rating and $10–19 meal prices.
Meal Price
Quality Rating $10-19 $20-29 $30-39 $40-49 Total
Good 42 40 2 0 84
Very Good 34 64 46 6 150
Excellent 2 14 28 22 300
Total 78 118 76 28 300

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 3.2 PivotTables in Excel

A crosstabulation in Excel is
called a PivotTable.

The image to the right shows

a PivotTable reproducing the
cross-tabulation from the
previous example.

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To create the PivotTable in Excel, follow the following steps: DATAfile: restaurant
Step 1. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 2. Click the button in the Tables group
Step 3. When the Create PivotTable dialog box appears:
Choose Select a table or range
Enter A1:D301 in the Table/Range: box
Select New Worksheet as the location for the PivotTable Report
Click OK
Step 4. In the PivotTable Fields task pane, go to Drag fields between areas below:
Drag the Quality Rating field to the Rows area
Drag the Meal Price ($) field to the Columns area
Drag the Restaurant field to the Values area
Step 5. Click on Sum of Restaurant in the Values area
Step 6. Select Value Field Settings from the list of options
Step 7. When the Value Field Settings dialog box appears:
Under Summarize value field by, select Count
Click OK
Click OK
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To complete the PivotTable, we need to group the columns representing Meal Prices
and place the row labels for Quality Rating in the proper order:

Step 8. Right-click in cell B4 or any other cell containing a meal price column label
Step 9. Select Group from the list of options
Step 10. When the Grouping dialog box appears:
Enter 10 in the Starting at: box
Enter 49 in the Ending at: box
Enter 10 in the By: box
Step 11. Right-click on “Excellent” in cell A5
Step 12. Select Move and click Move “Excellent” to End

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 3.3 Percent Frequency Distribution as a PivotTable

The PivotTable
indicates that
• 50% of restaurants
are very good, and
• 26% have meal
prices in the $10-
$19 range.

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To create a percent frequency distribution in a PivotTable follow these steps:

Step 1. To invoke the PivotTable Fields task pane, select any cell in the pivot table
Step 2. In the PivotTable Fields task pane, click the Count of Restaurant in the Values area
Step 3. Select Value Field Settings… from the list of options
Step 4. When the Value Field Settings dialog box appears, click the tab for Show Values As
Step 5. In the Show values as area, select % of Grand Total from the drop-down menu
Click OK

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 3. 4 PivotTable Report with Average Wait Time Added
The PivotTable indicates
that the wait time
increases with
• quality rating and
• meal prices in excellent
restaurants.

While it decreases with

increasing meal prices in
good restaurants.

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To display summary information on wait times instead of meal prices in a PivotTable
follow these steps:

Step 1. To invoke the PivotTable Fields task pane, select any cell in the pivot table
Step 2. In the PivotTable Fields task pane, click the Count of Restaurant field in the Values area
Select Remove Field
Step 3. Drag the Wait Time (min) to the Values area
Step 4. Click on Sum of Wait Time (min) in the Values area
Step 5. Select Value Field Settings... from the list of options
Step 6. When the Value Field Settings dialog box appears:
Under Summarize value field by, select Average
Click Number Format
In the Category: area, select Number
Enter 1 for Decimal places:
Click OK
When the Value Field Settings dialog box reappears, click OK

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4. Scatter Charts
A scatter chart is a graphical presentation of the relationship between two
quantitative variables.

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 4.1 Scatter
Scatter, bubble, and dot plot chart
➢ A scatter chart always has two value axes to show one set of numerical data
along a horizontal axis and another set of numerical values along a vertical axis.

➢ The chart displays points at the intersection of an x and y numerical value,

combining these values into single data points.

✓ A bubble chart replaces data points with bubbles, with the bubble size representing an
additional dimension of the data.

32
The following steps show how to create a scatter chart in Excel using the data in the file
electronics:
Step 1. Select cells B1:C11
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Click the Insert Scatter (X,Y) or Bubble Chart button in the Charts group
Step 3. When the list chart subtypes appear, click the Scatter button.
Step 4. Click the Chart Title and replace it with Relationship Between Sales and Number
of Commercials for San Francisco Electronics Store
Step 5. Click the Chart Elements button (located next to the top right corner of the chart)
Step 6. When the list of chart elements appears:
Select the check box for Axis Titles (to create placeholders for the axis titles)
Deselect the check box for Gridlines (to remove the grid lines from the chart)
Select the check box for Trendline (to add a trendline to the chart)
Step 7. Click the horizontal Axis Title placeholder and replace it with Number of
Commercials
Step 8. Click the vertical Axis Title placeholder and replace it with Sales ($100s)

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5. Recommended Charts in Excel
The steps below demonstrate the
Recommended Charts tool in Excel for
the San Francisco electronics store
data.
Step 1. Select cells B1:C11
Step 2: Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon
Step 3: Click the Recommended Charts
button in the Charts group
Step 4: When the Insert Chart dialog
box appears, select the Scatter
option
Click OK

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6. Line charts

• Line charts emphasize

the overall shape of an
entire series of
values, usually over
time.

35
 6.1 Line charts
A line chart is a useful representation of time series data, (DATAfile: kirkland.)

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The following steps show how to create a line chart in Excel using the data in the file
kirkland:
Step 1. Select cells A1:B13
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click the Insert Line Chart button in the Charts group
Step 4. When the list chart subtypes appear, click the Line button under 2-D Line.
Step 5. Click the Chart Elements button (located next to the top right corner of the chart)
Step 6. When the list of chart elements appears:
Deselect the check box for Gridlines (to remove the grid lines from the chart)
Select the check box for Axis Titles and replace “Sales ($100s)” with Monthly
Sales of Kirkland Air Compressors
Click the horizontal Axis Title placeholder and replace it with Month
Click the vertical Axis Title placeholder and replace it with Sales ($100s)

37
 6.2 Multiple Line Charts
To create multiple line charts in
Excel,
select the A2:C14 range in the
DATAfile: kirklandregional.

Follow the same steps used to

create a single line chart.

The preattentive attribute of

color is used to differentiate
between South and North.

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 7. Sparklines
A sparkline is a minimalist type of line chart that can be placed directly into a cell in
Excel.

Sparklines take up little space

and can be used to provide
information on overall trends for
time series data.

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To create a sparkline in Excel for the Kirkline Industries regional sales
data. , follow these steps:
Data File: kirklandregional

Step 1. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon

Indent the Line button in the Sparklines group
Step 2. When the Create Sparklines dialog box appears:
Enter B3:B14 in the Data Range: box
Enter B15 in the Location Range: box
Click OK
Step 3. Copy cell B15 to cell C15

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8. Bar and column charts

• Bar charts are the standard

for looking at a specific value
across different categories.

41
8.1 Bar Charts

• Bar charts use horizontal

bars to display the
magnitude of the
quantitative variable.

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Example: DATAfile: accountsmanaged
To create a bar chart in Excel, follow these steps:
Step 1. Select cells A2:B9
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click the Insert Column or Bar Chart button in the Charts group
Step 4. When the list of bar chart subtypes appears:
Click the Clustered Bar button in the 2-D Bar section
Step 5. Select the bar chart that was just created to reveal the Chart Buttons
Step 6. Click the Chart Elements button
Select the check boxes for Axes, Axis Titles, and Chart Title
Deselect the check box for Gridlines
Click on the text box next to the horizontal axis, and replace “Axis Title” with
Accounts Managed
Click on the text box next to the vertical axis, and replace “Axis Title” with Manager
Click on the text box above the chart, and replace “Chart Title” with Bar Chart of
Accounts Managed
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To order the bar chart by the number of accounts managed, follow these steps:

Step 7. Select cells A1:B9

Step 8. Right-click any of the cells A1:B9
Select Sort
Click Custom Sort...
Step 9. When the Sort dialog box appears:
Make sure that the check box for My data has headers is checked
Select Accounts Managed in the Sort by box under Column
Select Smallest to Largest under Order
Click OK

To add data labels to the bar chart, follow these steps:

Step 10. Select the chart to reveal the Chart Buttons

Step 11. Click the Chart Elements button
Select the check box for Data Labels

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8.2 Column Charts
Column charts use vertical bars to display the magnitude of the quantitative
variable.
• When visualizing more than one category of data, a stacked-column
chart or a clustered-column chart can be used.
• When horizontal instead of vertical bars are used, we have a stacked-
bar chart or a clustered-bar chart, respectively
• Clustered charts are often superior to stacked charts, but they can
become cluttered when using more than a few variables per category.
The examples of clustered- and stacked-column charts in the next two slides
use the kirklandregional data.

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8.2.1 Stacked-Column Chart
To create a stacked-bar/column chart:
File Name: kirklandregional data
Step 1. Select cells A2:C14
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. In the Charts group, click the
Insert Column or Bar Chart button
Under 2-D Column

▪ To create a stacked-column chart, select

Stacked Column.
▪ To create a stacked-bar chart, select
Stacked Bar

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 8.2.2 Clustered-Column Chart
To create a stacked-bar/column chart:

File Name: kirklandregional data

Step 1. Select cells A2:C14
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. In the Charts group, click the Insert
Column or Bar Chart button
Under 2-D Column

▪ To create a clustered-column chart, select

Clustered Column.
▪ To create a clustered-bar chart, select
Clustered Bar

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 9. Pie charts

• Pie charts show the

relationship of parts to a
whole.

48
9.1 A Note on Pie Charts and 3-D Charts
➢ Pie charts are a common form of chart used to compare categorical data.
• However, their inefficient use of the preattentive attributes of color and
size make it a poor choice for data visualization.

• Color: A color-blind person may

struggle to recognize the color coding
for the different account managers.

• Size: it is difficult to compare the

relative sizes of the pie wedges.

➢ The same argument can also be made

against using three-dimensional (3-D)
charts.
© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.
 10. Bubble Charts
A bubble chart is a graphical means of visualizing three variables in a two-
dimensional graph.

DATAfile: airportdata

For each airport, we have the

following quantitative variables:

• Average TSA wait time (min.)

• Cheapest parking rate ($/hr.)
• Boarding passengers/year
(millions)

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To create a bubble chart in Excel: DATAfile: airportdata
Step 1. Select cells B2:D16 Click on the text box above the chart, and replace
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon “Chart Title” with Airports Comparison (Bubble
Step 3. In the Charts group, click Insert Scatter (X,Y) or Size Corresponds to Annual Enplanements at
Bubble Chart Each Airport)
In the Bubble subgroup, click Bubble Step 6. Double-click on one of the Data Labels in the
Step 4. Select the chart that was just created to reveal the chart (e.g., the “$14.00” in largest bubble in the
Chart Buttons chart) to reveal the
Step 5. Click the Chart Elements button Format Data Labels task pane
Select the check boxes for Axes, Axis Titles, Step 7. In the Format Data Labels task pane, click
Chart Title and Data Labels. the Label Options icon and
Deselect the check box for Gridlines. open the Label Options area
Click on the text box under the horizontal axis, Under Label Contains, select Value from Cells
and replace “Axis Title” with TSA Wait Time Step 8. When the Data Label Range dialog box opens,
(minutes) select cells A2:A16 in the Worksheet
Click on the text box next to the vertical axis, and Click OK
replace “Axis Title” with Cheapest Parking Rate Step 9. In the Format Data Labels task pane, deselect Y
($ per day) Value under Label
Contains, and select Center under Label Position.

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12. Table Lens
A table lens is also used to visualize relationships between pairs of variables.
Shown below is a portion of the table lens for 11 of the 55 NYC sub-boroughs.

The DATAfile nyc

contains data for each of
New York City’s 55 sub-
boroughs on
• median monthly rent,
• % college graduates,
• poverty rate, and
• mean commute time
to work.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

 To visualize relationships between variables with
The following steps demonstrate the construction
a table lens, we must sort the data according to
of a table lens on the quantitative variables in the
one of the quantitative variables.
New York City sub-borough data.
The next steps sort the data according to
Step 1. Select cells B2:B56
Median Monthly Rent.
Step 2. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click the Conditional Formatting Step 1. Select cells A1:F56
button in the Styles group Step 2. Click the Data tab on the Ribbon
From the drop-down menu, Step 3. Click the Sort button in the Sort &
Filter group
select Data Bars and then Blue Data
Step 4. When the Sort dialog box appears,
Bar from the Solid Fill area select the check box for My data has headers
Repeat steps 1–3 for the other three variables, In the Sort by row:
changing the cell range in step 1 to Select Median Monthly Rent ($) for
the Column entry
C2:C56
Select Cell Values for Sort on entry
D2:D56, and Select Largest to Smallest for Order entry
E2:E56 Click OK

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13. PivotCharts
PivotCharts paired with PivotTables allow to summarize and analyze data
with a crosstabulation and a chart.

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 To create a PivotChart for the restaurants data, follow these steps.

Step 1. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon Step 7. When the Value Field Settings dialog box appears:
Step 2. In the Charts group, select PivotChart Under Summarize value field by, select Average
Step 3. When the Create PivotChart dialog box appears: Click Number Format
Choose Select a Table or Range In the Category: box, select Number
Enter A1:D301 in the Table/Range: box Enter 1 for Decimal places:
Select New Worksheet as the location for the Click OK
PivotTable Report When the Value Field Settings dialog box
Click OK reappears, click OK
Step 4. In the PivotChart Fields area, under Choose fields Step 8. Right-click in cell B2 or any cell containing a meal
to add to report: price column label
Drag the Quality Rating field to the Axis Step 9. Select Group... from the list of options that appears
(Categories) area Step 10. When the Grouping dialog box appears:
Drag the Meal Price ($) field to the Legend Enter 10 in the Starting at: box
(Series) area Enter 49 in the Ending at: box
Drag the Wait Time (min) field to the Values area Enter 10 in the By: box
Step 5. Click on Sum of Wait Time (min) in the Values Click OK
area Step 11. Right-click on “Excellent” in cell A3
Step 6. Select Value Field Settings... from the list of Step 12. Select Move and click Move “Excellent” to End
options that appear

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14. Heat Maps
A heat map is a 2-D graphical representation of data that uses different shades of
color to indicate magnitude..

See Next slide for Excel instructions

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A heat map for the samestore_sales data can be created in Excel by following
these steps.
Step 1. Select cells B2:M17
Step 2. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group
Select Color Scales and click on Blue–White–Red Color Scale

To add the sparklines in column N, we use the following steps:

Step 4. Select cell N2
Step 5. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 6. Click Line in the Sparklines group
Step 7. When the Create Sparklines dialog box appears:
Enter B2:M2 in the Data Range: box
Enter N2 in the Location Range: box
Click OK
Step 8. Copy cell N2 to N3:N17

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14.1 Hierarchical Tree Structures
Hierarchical data are categorical data further decomposed into
subcategories.
Hierarchical data can be represented with a tree-like structure, where the
branches of the tree lead to categories and subcategories.
DATAfile:
brandvalues

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14.2 Treemaps

A treemap is a chart that uses

• size,
• color, and
• arrangement
of rectangles to display a
quantitative variable for different
categories and subcategories.
Shown to the right is the treemap
for the brandvalues data.

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The following steps are used to create a treemap in Excel using the data
in the file brandvalues.
Step 1. Select cells A1:C11

Step 2. Sort the data by Industry by using the following steps:

Click Data on the Ribbon
Click the Sort button in the Sort & Filter group
When the Sort dialog box appears:
Select Industry for Sort By
Select Cell Values for Sort On
Select A to Z for Order

Step 3. Click Insert on the Ribbon.

Click the Insert Hierarchy Chart button in the Charts group and select
Treemap

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14.3 Waterfall Charts

A waterfall chart displays the

cumulative effect of changes on a
variable of interest.
• The magnitude of each
change is represented by a
column anchored at the
cumulative height of the
changes in the preceding
categories.
DATAfile: gossamer_profit

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The following steps are used to create the waterfall chart of gross profit for the Gossamer
profit data.
Step 1. Select cells A2:H2.
Hold down the control key (Ctrl) and also select cells A5:H5
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click the Insert Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface or Radar Chart button in the Charts group
When the list of subtypes appears, click Waterfall
In the initial chart, the Total values are treated as another monthly value.

The following steps will make the total appear as in the figure.
Step 4. Double-click on the column for Total in the chart to open the Format Data Point task pane
(in step 4, make sure you have chosen only the single column in the chart for “Total” to display the Format

Data Point task pane rather than the Format Data Series task pane.)
Step 5. When the Format Data Point task pane appears:
Click the Series Options button
Select the check box for Set as total.

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14.4 Stock Charts
A stock chart is a graphical display of
stock prices over time.
Excel provides four different types of
stock charts.
In this slide, we consider the high-low-
close stock chart for five trading days
in April of the company Verizon
Wireless.
DATAfile: verizon

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

The following steps are used to create a high-low-close stock chart for the Verizon stock price data.
Step 1. Select cells A1:D6
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon
Step 3. Click the Insert Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, Surface or Radar Chart button in the Charts group
When the list of subtypes appears, click High-Low-Close
The following steps add the closing price labels and markers.
Step 4. Click the Chart Elements button and select Data Labels
Step 4 places three sets of labels on each vertical bar (highest, closing, and lowest price per share).
The following steps clean up the display
Step 5. Click any of the high price per share labels (for example, “$58.91” for 20-Apr) and press the Delete key.
Do the same for the low price per share labels (for example, “$57.23” for 22-Apr)
Step 6. On one of the vertical lines, click a data point directly next to one of the closing price labels to open the
Format Data Series task pane
Step 7. When the Format Data Series task pane appears:
Click the Fill & Line button, then click Marker
Under Fill, select Solid fill
Under Border, select Solid line and for Width, select 3 pt

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

14.5 Parallel-Coordinates Plot
A parallel-coordinates plot is a
helpful chart for examining data
with more than two variables for a
set of observations.
• Each observation is represented
by a line connecting each
vertical axis.
• The height of the line represents
the value taken by that
observation for the variable on
each vertical axis.

• This plot is used to identify patterns and relationships between variables.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.
16. A Choropleth Map Example

A choropleth map is a geographic

visualization that uses shades of color,
different colors, or symbols to indicate
quantitative or categorical geospatial
data values.
The example shows a weather map
using color to depict the daily high
temperature (°F.)
• Warmer colors: higher °F
• Cooler colors: lower °F

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

 16.1 State-Level Choropleth Map of United States
DATAfile: income_state
To create a map of the median
income by state in the United States,
follow these steps:
Step 1. Select cells A1:B51
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on the
Ribbon
Step 3. In the Charts group,
click the Maps button
Step 4. Select Filled Map

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

 16.2 County-Level Choropleth Map of United States

DATAfile: income_county
To create a map of the median income
by county in the United States, follow
these steps:
Step 1. Select cells A1:C3148
Step 2. Click the Insert tab on
the Ribbon
Step 3. In the Charts group, click the
Maps button
Step 4. Select Filled Map

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

 16.3 State-Population Cartogram of the United States
➢ A cartogram is a map-like
diagram that uses geographic
positioning to represent map
regions that do not necessarily
correspond to land area.
➢ In the cartogram of the United
States to the right, the area for
each state is based on its
population.
➢ A weakness of the cartogram is
that the distortions brought by
relative sizing may render its
geography meaningless.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

16.4 Equal-Area Cartogram of the United States
An equal-area cartogram
may be used to remedy the
distortions a cartogram
introduces.
An equal-area cartogram
provides a balanced visual
representation of each state
while maintaining fidelity to
relative geographic
positioning.
Cartograms are not
available in Excel.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

17. Data Dashboards
In a business, key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics indicative of
current operating characteristics.

A data dashboard is a data visualization tool that illustrates multiple KPIs and
automatically updates as new data becomes available.
For effective data dashboards, the following principles apply:
• Show on a single screen all KPIs related to one aspect of the operations.
• Create multiple dashboards of related KPIs to prevent scrolling.
• The KPIs should convey clear meaning and be related to decisions.
• Dashboards must adhere to the principles of effective data visualization.
• Use color to call attention and differentiate between categorical variables.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

17.1 An Application of Data Dashboards
Grogan Oil Company has offices in Houston,
Dallas, and Austin (HQs).
It uses data dashboards to monitor the
operations of its IT call center in Austin, Texas.
• The stacked-column chart shows the call
volume per type of problem over time.
• The column chart shows the % time that
employees spent on each problem type.
• The bar charts in the middle show
unresolved cases by time, and call volume
by the office.
• The histogram shows the distribution of time
needed to resolve a case.

© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.

 Effective Data Visualization in 5 Steps

1. Determine Who The Audience Is

For a data visualization to be effective you

must fully understand the expectations
and goals of the audience and deliver the
data in a format and design that meets their
needs.

73
 Effective Data Visualization in 5 Steps
2. Remove Unnecessary Complexity
When designing a data visualization, simplicity is
critical, removing any unnecessary elements that could
distract or confuse the audience.

✓ To achieve this, implement an eye-catching and consistent color

scheme, clear and suitably-sized fonts, and utilize white space, and
margins to organize the page layout.
✓ Large titles, legends, and labels can also help to explain the content
more clearly.

74
 Effective Data Visualization in 5 Steps
3. Use Relevant Charts
Relevancy is crucial for efficient data visualizations;
therefore, it is advised to use the correct charts and
graphs to display any data.

✓ For example, a line chart is the recommended way

to display trends, and scatter charts show
relationships and correlations, while a pie or donut
chart can show percentages.

75
 Effective Data Visualization in 5 Steps

4. Create a Story

Data visualization should be more than just

cold, static numbers, it should have a
clear story that keeps the audience
engaged and delivers a progressive
conclusion.

76
 Effective Data Visualization in 5 Steps

5. Test Your Data Visualization

The last step is to test the data
visualization so it can be optimized
before presenting it to an audience.

Make sure the key points are clear, the

data is accurate, and that charts and
graphs are easy to follow.

77
 The Challenges of Data Visualization

To fully understand data visualization, we also need to look at its limitations to determine when
and where it can be used.
✓ Inexperienced users may also choose a poor or incorrect design, visualizing the data in a
way that confuses the audience or implements too much bias.

✓ Another issue that needs to be avoided is automatically believing any correlation can be
linked to a cause. Of course, in many cases, correlation does represent a valuable insight or
trend, but not always.

✓ Finally, it can be sometimes easy to get caught up in the fancy graphics and interactive
charts, losing sight of the key message and the overall goal of the visualization. Like
any type of reporting and presentation technique, the focus is crucial to deliver the key
messaging effectively.
78
Summary
• In this chapter, we covered techniques and tools related to data visualization.
• We discussed principles related to preattentive attributes and data-ink ratio.
• We introduced techniques for enhancing visual presentations.
• We explained when tables are preferable to charts for data visualization.
• We introduced crosstabulation as a form of a table for two variables and
explained how to use Excel to create a PivotTable.
• We presented a variety of standard and specialized charts that can be used for
many different data visualization applications.
• We presented choropleth maps and cartograms as visualizations that can be
used with geospatial data.
• We introduced data dashboards as a data-visualization tool that summarizes a
firm’s operations in visual form.
© 2024 Cengage Group. All Rights Reserved.