Scatter plot
Two measures on x/y. What the scatter plot is for, the data it needs and every option it has.
3 min read
On this page
Two measures on x/y. It sits in the Distribution group of the widget library.
When to use it#
Use a scatter plot to see whether two numbers move together, one dot per row: transaction amount against day of month, balance against monthly spending per account, or price against quantity for trades. Clusters and outliers stand out immediately.
When to pick something else#
- A third number should set the dot size? Use a Bubble chart.
- Thousands of rows piling on top of each other? Use a Hexbin or Contour.
- X is a date and you want the trend? Use a Line 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 date or a category or a number | |
| Y axis | Yes | a number | You can pick several. |
| Series | Optional | a category | |
| Color | Optional | a category |
Each row is drawn as it is, so shape the rows first if you need totals. See Shaping data.
Scatter plot options#
Set these on the Style tab of the inspector. "Automatic" means BankSync picks a value from the chart's size and data.
| Option | What it does | Values | New charts start with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jitter | Spread overlapping points sideways by up to this many pixels (24 at most). Points on a category axis get a small spread even at 0. | Number, 0 or more | 0 |
| Marker shape | The shape drawn for every point. | Circle, Square, Triangle, Diamond, Cross, Star | Automatic |
| Point opacity | How solid each point is, from 0 to 1. Lower it to see through crowded clusters. | Number, 0 to 1 | Automatic |
| Show trend line | Draw a straight best-fit line through the points. Needs a numeric x axis. | On or off | Automatic |
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 missing either value are left out; if none remain it shows "No points to show".
- Beyond 2,000 rows, an even sample of 2,000 is drawn.
- Colour groups are capped: the 3 most common keep their colour and the rest share one Other colour.
- Neither axis is forced to include zero, so the plot zooms in on where the data is.
- If x is a date or a category instead of a number, dots line up on an ordered axis and are spread sideways slightly so they don't hide each other.
On a phone#
Dots stay readable at full phone width, but dense plots become a blob. On a phone, a Hexbin or a filtered scatter reads better.
Related charts#
- Histogram: Distribution of one measure
- Box plot: Quartiles with whiskers
- Violin: Density per category
- Beeswarm: Non-overlapping dot plot
- Density: Kernel-smoothed distribution
- Ridgeline: Stacked distributions
- Strip plot: Each value as a tick
- Jitter plot: Scattered dots per category
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