Create and use a column chart

Examples

An insurance company is reviewing the types of policies it offers to compare its current offerings to the findings from a recently completed market research project. The first step in the review is to determine the total value of policies in each policy class. A column chart can be used to visualize the sum of total insured values (TIV) for each policy class.

The column chart above provides a sum of the TIV for each category of insurance policy: Disability, Automobile, Life, and Property. When the chart is sorted in ascending order, it's easy to see the highest and lowest values.

The insurance company is especially interested in expanding its business in five cities of interest. The Subgroup field can be used to compare the total insured value for each policy class across cities.

The column chart above shows the distribution of subgroups for each category. The Policy_Class values (Property, Life, Disability, and Automobile) have subgroups that show a different colored column for each city.

Create a column chart

To create a column chart, complete the following steps:

Tip:

Drag a matching string field from a second dataset onto your column chart to create a combo chart.

Tip:

You can also create charts using the Chart menu above the data pane or the Visualization type button on an existing card. For the Chart menu, only charts that are compatible with your data selection will be enabled. For the Visualization type menu, only compatible visualizations (including maps, charts, or tables) will be displayed.

Usage notes

The Legend button can be used to change the Symbol Type to Single symbol or Unique symbols. The Chart Color can be changed if the Symbol Type is single symbol. If unique symbols are used, the legend can be used to select data on the column chart. To change the color associated with a category, click the symbol and choose a color from the palette or enter a hex value.

The value of each column can be symbolized as a count of features in each category on the x-axis, or as a number or rate/ratio field. If a field is used, the column values can be calculated as a sum, minimum, maximum, average, percentile, or median of values from the field for each category.

Note:

Median and percentile are not available for remote feature layers.

An optional Subgroup field can be selected on the x-axis. The Subgroup field must be a string field and will be used to divide each category on the x-axis into subcategories. You can also switch from a grouped bar chart to a stacked bar chart using the Stack chart button .

Tip:

Style related maps with the same field you used as a subgroup on your column chart. When you interact with the chart or map, you'll see simultaneous categorical and spatial patterns.

Use the Chart statistics button to display the mean, median, upper quartile, lower quartile, or a custom value.

Use the Sort button to sort the categorical data in ascending or descending order by either numeric variable or alphabetically.

Use the Visualization type button to switch directly between a column chart and other visualizations, such as a unique values map, summary table, treemap, or donut chart.

When you create a column chart, a result dataset with the string and number fields used to create the chart will be added to the data pane. The result dataset can be used to find answers with nonspatial analysis using the Action button .