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Tableau | Data visualisation

Build Radial Charts in Tableau Public | Tableau Public Vizart Pilot

Radial Charts have landed in Tableau Public as a trial, so let's figure them out together before June 30th.

Tim Ngwena •30 April 2023 •1 min read •4 min watch •7.7K

Part ofTableau Charts

Radial Charts (alongside Sankey Charts) are available in Tableau Public as a trial until 30 June.
A radial chart behaves much like a layered pie chart: the order of dimensions on Level dictates the order of the rings, and the first dimension drives the colour.
Put a measure such as Quantity on Angle to size the segments proportionally, otherwise everything renders in equal proportions.
Labels tend to break and need disabling, and there's currently no way to drop a dimension onto Colour or Detail, so colour control is limited.
You can already fake a two-level radial chart by layering pie charts at different levels of detail, but the native chart type avoids that hack.

0:00Hey it's Tim here, Radial Charts are now

0:02available in Tablo Public until June 30th

0:06as part of

0:06a trial.

0:07I've already covered Sankey Charts, in this

0:09video we're going to look at Radial Charts.

0:10Let's get stuck in.

0:11So here you can see the Sankey Chart I

0:13built in my previous video, it literally

0:15took 25

0:15seconds, I'll put a link to that video, but

0:17it's actually part of a trial that's going

0:19on at the moment on Tablo Public and

0:21essentially allows you to use these two

0:23chart types.

0:24So in this video I'm going to focus in on

0:26Radial Charts.

0:27Let's go ahead and we've already connected

0:29to Superstore Cells, you know that data

0:30source

0:31very well if you're familiar with Tablo, I

0:33just smacked the mic there.

0:34And then we'll go to a new sheet here and

0:37what I've done with this one is I've never

0:39done this before.

0:40I tried the Sankey one once, realised how

0:43cool it was, immediately made a video.

0:46But then here we are with the Radial Charts

0:47.

0:48So here we are with Radial Charts, I'm

0:49going to try and figure this out with you

0:50so you

0:50can kind of see maybe how future chart

0:53types might come to Tablo if you're using

0:55the sort

0:55of existing knowledge you have of the marks

0:58man.

0:58So for this one, what I'll do is I'll grab

1:00subcategory and actually I think the

1:02knowledge

1:03that matters here is the pie charts as well

1:06.

1:07So if I put subcategory there, you'll see

1:10that I get an equal proportion for each of

1:12the components of this.

1:15And then if I add a segment onto level,

1:17then I think what should happen is you get

1:19a second

1:20level around the outside.

1:21So essentially the order of these two

1:25dictates the order of the sections.

1:29So now what I've done is I've put segment

1:32and that is now dictating the colour.

1:34So whichever comes first dictates the

1:36colour.

1:37What you could probably do is change that.

1:38But nonetheless, everything is equal

1:40because at the moment it thinks everything

1:41has equal

1:42proportion.

1:43That is not the case.

1:44So let's go ahead and put quantity, let's

1:48put quantity on angle.

1:50And you should see it starts to actually

1:51adjust this.

1:52Now the labels have gone absolutely crazy.

1:54So let's disable the labels here.

1:57And I wonder if there's any more, yeah, let

1:59's disable the bulk of labels.

2:01And then we can see here that as I click on

2:03, let's say, home office, is it going to let

2:05me click?

2:06It's not letting me click on home office.

2:07So there's clearly a bug there.

2:09But I can hover over some of these ones.

2:11I can't hover over home office.

2:13But I can, for example, click on the

2:15segment.

2:16And you can kind of carry on.

2:17You can just keep adding more and more

2:19things.

2:20And you notice that it gets smaller and

2:21smaller and smaller.

2:22So the levels you're adding sort of do

2:23matter.

2:24Now the interesting thing is you don't have

2:27the ability to control the colors of the

2:30different

2:31levels.

2:32So everything is predicated on the segment.

2:34The segment is the thing that decides what

2:36goes where.

2:37So if I drag category and replace segment,

2:40you'll see that that changes.

2:42And if I put category on color, nothing

2:44actually happened there.

2:47If I choose, for example, Seattle Grays,

2:49you'll see there is no way to drop this

2:51dimension

2:52on color.

2:53The color seems to be sort of not editable,

2:56at least in this case.

2:57So that is it.

2:58That is as simple as it is.

3:00It's essentially a pie chart.

3:01Now you could already do a two level radial

3:04shot in Tableau.

3:05It involved layering two pie charts on each

3:07other and putting them at different levels

3:08of detail.

3:10With the marks, with the map layers trick,

3:13you could do more levels by essentially

3:15putting

3:16several charts on top of each other and

3:17then having actions sort of support the

3:19interaction

3:20all the way through.

3:21But that again is a hack.

3:22You don't really want to be doing that.

3:24And so the purpose of this is actually to

3:26allow you to start to look at these in more

3:28detail.

3:30One of the things I think might be causing

3:32an issue here is this detail element here.

3:35Let me just go drag, let's say category

3:37onto detail.

3:38And when we put that on detail, does it let

3:41me?

3:41No, it doesn't let me drag.

3:43It doesn't let me select the category.

3:45So, this is going to be an interesting sort

3:47of journey because these are two radically

3:48different chart types.

3:50The Sankey was dead easy to understand.

3:52Maybe because I've seen a few Sankeys.

3:54But the radial, this is a little bit more

3:55tricky because it's not too different from

3:57a pie chart and I don't seem to have the

3:59same flexibility as I would with a pie

4:02chart

4:02to do things like labeling and coloring.

4:04But nonetheless, this is a beta until June

4:0630th.

4:07So go ahead and check it out.

4:09It's over on Tableau Public.

4:10I'll catch you in the next video.

4:11Bye.

4:12[BLANK_AUDIO]

4:22[ Silence ]

This tutorial explores Tableau Public’s new Radial Charts feature, currently available in a trial until June 30th. Radial Charts allow you to create multi-level pie charts, offering a unique way to visualize hierarchical data.

To create a Radial Chart, start by dragging the subcategory field onto the level. Next, add the segment field onto the level field, and you will see a second level appear around the outside of the chart. The order in which you place these fields dictates the order of the sections in the chart.

The colour of the chart is dictated by the first field you drag into it. Currently, the colour palette seems to be uneditable, which might be a limitation during the trial. To show the correct proportions of the categories, add the quantity field onto the angle field.

Unfortunately, the current trial version has some limitations and potential bugs, such as unresponsive clicking and hovering over certain sections. Additionally, the feature doesn’t offer the same flexibility in labeling and colouring as a traditional pie chart.

Despite these limitations, Radial Charts provide a more straightforward way to create multi-level radial charts compared to previous workarounds, such as layering multiple pie charts or using map layers tricks.

Remember, this feature is in beta until June 30th, so give it a try on Tableau Public and explore its potential for your data visualization projects! Stay tuned for more updates and tutorials on new Tableau features.

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