Communicating Data with Tableau

Book description

Go beyond spreadsheets and tables and design a data presentation that really makes an impact. This practical guide shows you how to use Tableau Software to convert raw data into compelling data visualizations that provide insight or allow viewers to explore the data for themselves.

Ideal for analysts, engineers, marketers, journalists, and researchers, this book describes the principles of communicating data and takes you on an in-depth tour of common visualization methods. You’ll learn how to craft articulate and creative data visualizations with Tableau Desktop 8.1 and Tableau Public 8.1.

  • Present comparisons of how much and how many
  • Use blended data sources to create ratios and rates
  • Create charts to depict proportions and percentages
  • Visualize measures of mean, median, and mode
  • Lean how to deal with variation and uncertainty
  • Communicate multiple quantities in the same view
  • Show how quantities and events change over time
  • Use maps to communicate positional data
  • Build dashboards to combine several visualizations

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. Intended Audience
    2. Assumptions This Book Makes
    3. Contents of This Book
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. Using Code Examples
    6. Safari® Books Online
    7. How to Contact Us
    8. Acknowledgments
  2. 1. Communicating Data
    1. A Step in the Process
    2. A Model of Communication
    3. Three Types of Communication Problems
    4. Six Principles of Communicating Data
      1. Principle #1: Know Your Goal
      2. Principle #2: Use the Right Data
      3. Principle #3: Select Suitable Visualizations
        1. What type of data do you have?
        2. What are the most effective types of visualizations for your data type?
      4. Principle #4: Design for Aesthetics
      5. Principle #5: Choose an Effective Medium and Channel
      6. Principle #6: Check the Results
    5. Summary
  3. 2. Introduction to Tableau
    1. Using Tableau
      1. My Tableau Story
    2. Tableau Products
    3. Connecting to Data
      1. The Tableau User Interface
        1. Sheets
        2. Dashboards
        3. The toolbar
        4. Data types
        5. Changing data types
        6. Calculated fields
        7. Creating visualizations
        8. Show Me
      2. Summary
  4. 3. How Much and How Many
    1. Communicating “How Much”
      1. An Example of How Much
      2. Comparing Comparisons
      3. Fine-Tuning the Default
      4. Sorting
      5. The Dot Chart
    2. Communicating “How Many”
      1. A Tale of Two Formats
      2. Counting Dimensions
      3. Histograms: How Many of How Much?
    3. Summary
  5. 4. Ratios and Rates
    1. Ratios
      1. Two Ways of Adding Rank
    2. Rates
      1. Blending Data Sources
      2. Visualizing Rates
    3. Summary
  6. 5. Proportions and Percentages
    1. Part-to-Whole
      1. Introducing Filters and Quick Filters
      2. Introducing Table Calculations
      3. Proportions as Waterfall Charts Using Gantt
    2. Current-to-Historical
      1. The Bullet Graph
      2. Reference Lines
    3. Actual-to-Target
    4. Summary
  7. 6. Mean and Median
    1. The Normal Distribution
      1. An Example of “Normal” Data
      2. Box Plots
      3. An Example of “Non-Normal” Data
      4. Sensitivity to Outliers
      5. Visualizing Typical Values of Non-Normal Distributions
    2. Summary
  8. 7. Variation and Uncertainty
    1. Respecting Variation
      1. Visualizing Variation
    2. Variation Over Time: Control Charts
      1. Anatomy of a Control Chart
      2. How to Create a Control Chart in Tableau
        1. The quick method
        2. The rigorous method
    3. Understanding Uncertainty
    4. Summary
  9. 8. Multiple Quantities
    1. Scatterplots
      1. Who Is Who?
        1. Labels
        2. Tooltips
        3. Annotations
      2. Making it Exploratory
      3. Adding Background Images
    2. Stacked Bars
    3. Regression and Trend Lines
    4. The Quadrant Chart
    5. Summary
  10. 9. Changes Over Time
    1. The Origin of Time Charts
    2. The Line Chart
    3. The Dual-Axis Line Chart
    4. The Connected Scatterplot
    5. The Date Field Type and Seasonality
    6. The Timeline
    7. The Slopegraph
      1. Step 1: Get the Data
      2. Step 2: Connect Tableau
      3. Step 3: Create a Parameter and Matching Calculated Field
      4. Step 4: Create the Basic Slopegraph
      5. Step 5: Add Line Coloring and Thickness
      6. Step 6: Design the Dashboard
    8. Summary
  11. 10. Maps and Location
    1. One Special Map
    2. Circle Maps
      1. Adding a Second Encoding
      2. When Marks Multiply
    3. Filled Maps
    4. Dual-Encoded Maps
      1. A Dual-Axis Map
      2. A Dual-Encoded Circle Map
    5. Summary
  12. 11. Advanced Maps
    1. Maps with Shapes
    2. Maps Showing Paths
    3. Plotting Map Shapes Using Axes
    4. Summary
  13. 12. The Joy of Dashboards
    1. Dashboards in Tableau
    2. A Word of Caution
      1. “Begin with the End in Mind”
    3. Types of Dashboards
      1. Context Is King
    4. Summary
  14. 13. Building Dashboards
    1. Building an Exploratory Dashboard
      1. Step 1: Design
      2. Step 2: Sheets
      3. Moving Things Around
      4. Step 3: Annotations
      5. Step 4: Objects
        1. “Hover for More Info” icons
      6. Step 5: Actions
        1. Quick Filters on Dashboards
        2. Dynamic Labels on Dashboards
        3. Using Sheets as Filters on Dashboards
        4. Highlighting Sheets
        5. Using Sheets to Highlight
      7. Step 6: Formatting
      8. Steps 7 and 8: Delivery and Results
    2. Building an Explanatory Dashboard
      1. A Key Point to Explain: Nordic Countries in the Lead
      2. Another Key Point to Explain: The Emergence of China
    3. Summary
  15. 14. Advanced Dashboard Features
    1. Animating Dashboards
    2. Showing Multiple Tabs
    3. Adding Navigation with Filters
    4. Adding Custom Header Images
    5. Adding Google Maps to Dashboards
      1. Create the URLs
      2. Adding Dynamic Google Maps Satellite Images to Our Dashboard
    6. Adding YouTube Videos to Dashboards
    7. Summary
  16. A. Resources
    1. Training
    2. Examples
    3. Blogs
    4. Other Resources
  17. Index
  18. Colophon
  19. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Communicating Data with Tableau
  • Author(s): Ben Jones
  • Release date: June 2014
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781449371982