Nightingale
Radial polar pie. What the nightingale is for, the data it needs and every option it has.
2 min read
On this page
Radial polar pie. It sits in the Part-of-whole group of the widget library.
When to use it#
Use a Nightingale (rose) chart to show how a total splits across a handful of categories when you want something more striking than a pie, such as spending by category this quarter or income by source. Slices share one angle; area grows with the value.
When to pick something else#
- Readers need to compare slices precisely? Use a Bar chart or Column chart.
- A plain share of a total? Use a Donut chart or Pie chart.
- Many categories, or categories inside categories? Use a Treemap or Sunburst.
- Months around a year, where the radius should track the value directly? Use a Polar chart.
The data it needs#
Pick these in the Data tab of the inspector. BankSync suggests a column for each when your source has an obvious match.
| Field | Needed | Pick | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| X axis | Yes | a category or a date | |
| Y axis | Yes | a number | |
| Series | Optional | a category | |
| Color | Optional | a category |
Rows that share a category are combined before drawing: choose Sum, Average, Count, Min or Max on the value field. See Binding data.
Nightingale options#
This chart has no options of its own; everything on its Style tab is the shared chart styling below.
Shared chart styling#
Every chart also has the shared styling options. These apply to this one:
- Legend: position, layout and which series show.
- Axes: titles, tick labels and number format.
- Grid, title, padding and background.
- Value labels on the marks.
- Categories and labels: top N with "Other", sort order, readable labels, the handwritten callout.
- Style: corner radius, line width, opacity and animation.
- Tooltip on hover.
- Click to filter: clicking a mark can filter the rest of the dashboard. See Filters and cross-filtering.
- Colours: follow the dashboard palette or pick one for this chart.
Messy data#
- Rows in the same category are added together.
- Past eight categories, the smallest are combined into one grey "Other" slice.
- Negative values are left out, and the tooltip says how many were dropped. If only negatives remain you see "Only negative values; nothing to show".
- If every value is zero you see "Everything is zero for this period". Blank categories share one "(blank)" slice.
On a phone#
On a phone the rose shrinks to fit the card. When there isn't room for labels around the edge, a legend with each slice's share appears below the chart instead. A Bar chart compares more easily on a small screen.
Related charts#
- Pie chart: Categorical share
- Donut chart: Pie with center label
- Treemap: Nested rectangles by value
- Sunburst: Hierarchical radial wedges
- Radial bar: Polar bar chart
- Mosaic: Marimekko tiled cells
- Waffle: 100-unit grid share
- Funnel: Conversion stage flow
- Pyramid: Inverted funnel
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