Arrow Plot

Arrow Plots

Learn about building and configuring arrow plots in Mappica.

Overview

Arrow Plots visualize the change between two points, using arrow bars to represent both direction and magnitude. They are effective at depicting changes across groups, such as states, regions, or product categories. Each arrow bar can be assigned colors in various ways, including to show direction of change, scale of change, or different categories.

Setup

In the Setup section, under the Chart tab, you can assign the following properties:

The name will be used to reference it in the Layers tab and on the canvas.
The top, right, bottom, and left Margin that will be added between the chart axes and the edge of the chart container.

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Because the margin sets the space between the chart axes and the edge of the container, ensure you add enough margin for any axis ticks or labels. If needed, use options in the Axes section such as Limit Tick Width, Limit Tick Characters, and Rotate Ticks to constrain the size of tick and label text.

The Size Ratio of the chart container. Since the chart will always take up the available width inside its parent section, the size ratio effectively determines the chart's height.
Optionally, the chart's Minimum Height and/or Maximum Height. If the height calculated by the size ratio is smaller than the Minimum Height or larger than the Maximum Height, then the Minimum Height or Maximum Height is used instead of the size ratio.

Connecting to Datasets

In the Dataset section, you can select the dataset for your chart. If you need to add a dataset, this can be done by selecting New Dataset in the Project tab.

MAPPICA Pro

If you are on the Pro plan, you can upload your own files (in csv format) to use as datasets, by clicking New Dataset and then Upload Dataset.

After you have selected a dataset, you can optionally enable the Prefilter Dataset switch, which lets you filter the data that is supplied to the chart. The filter is a "prefilter" because it is applied before the visualization is generated; end users are unable to adjust the filter dynamically.

Arrow plots use a custom data format, with separate dataset fields (columns) assigned to each of the following fields:

Vertical Axis Field: The values in this field define the arrow plot's vertical axis. If the column contains text values, each unique value will appear as a discrete item along the axis. If the column is a date, number, currency, percent, or measurement field, the axis will be continuous by default (though this can be adjusted—see the Formatting section below).‍
Start Field: A number, percent, currency, or measurement field corresponding to the start of each arrow bar.
End Field: A number, percent, currency, or measurement field corresponding to the end of each arrow bar, where an arrowhead is displayed by default.

Connecting to Filters

You can establish connections to filter elements under the Chart tab, in the Connections section, by making a selection under Filter.

A Filter element can be styled as a series of checkboxes, a dropdown menu, or a slider. Values from the specified Filter Field appear as individual checkboxes, dropdown menu items, or (for numeric filtering) slider values. A given chart can be connected to one or more filters, and the same filter can be connected to multiple charts or other elements.

When a filter element is connected to a chart, it dynamically controls the dataset records displayed in the chart based on the user's selections. Filters can also adjust the chart's axis range dynamically, provided one of the chart's axis fields is the same as the filter's Filter Field and the Minimum and Maximum Range values of that axis are set to auto.

Additionally, filter elements can inherit color formatting from a chart, provided that the chart's Color Field is the same as the filter's Filter Field. For more information, see the Color Formatting section of the documentation for filter elements.

Typically, the Filter element you connect to will use the same Dataset as the chart element. However, this is not strictly necessary. If the filter and chart elements use different datasets, the filter will only affect the chart if the chart's dataset contains a field (column) with the same name as the Filter Field in the filter element. In this case, the values in these fields must at least partially align for the filter to take effect. Any non-matching values between the fields will be ignored during filtering.

Sorting

You can choose how to sort the chart bars or columns under the Chart tab in the Sort section. Choose either to sort by the Vertical Axis Field, the Start Field, or the End Field. In all three cases, you can also choose to reverse the natural sort order.

Axes

The Axes section of the Chart tab is used to configure the Vertical Axis and Horizontal Axis:

‍Add Label: When enabled, label text appears adjacent to the axis. You can also align the label text.
Use Discrete Scale: By default, if the vertical axis is a date, number, currency, percent, or measurement field, it is formatted as a continuous scale, similar to the horizontal axis of a line or area chart. You can choose to switch to a discrete scale, where each unique value in the dataset is displayed as a distinct point, similar to the horizontal axis of a column chart.
Customize Range: Specify a custom minimum and maximum value for the chart's horizontal chart axis.‍
Set Axis Line Location: When enabled, this option lets you control the position of the axis line. Auto places the axis line at the bottom of the chart (in the case of the horizontal axis) or the left of the chart (in the case of the vertical axis). Zero aligns the axis to the zero value and Hidden removes the axis line entirely.‍ If this option is turned off, the chart's independent axis line will be displayed in a default location and the dependent axis line will be hidden (Pro users can adjust these default settings in the Theme page).‍
Customize Ticks: When enabled, you can control which tick values will be displayed on the axis. Values lets you specify exact tick values, which should be separated with commas. Choose Count to set an approximate number of ticks (this option is only available on axes displaying continuous data). Or choose Hidden to remove ticks from the axis.‍

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If you choose to specify exact tick values, ensure that they don't overlap with one another on tablet and mobile viewports.

Limit Tick Width: This is the maximum width, in pixels, applied to text on this axis. Leaving the tick width set to auto will result in tick text remaining on one line. Text wraps at spaces, so longer words will sometimes extend beyond the specified value. This option is only available when the vertical axis field is set to a text field.‍
Limit Tick Characters: This feature allows you to set a maximum number of characters for tick labels. When enabled, longer labels will be truncated to fit the character limit, with ellipses displayed to indicate that the word has been truncated. You can specify a custom value or leave it at auto for default behavior. ‍This option is only available when the vertical axis field is set to a text field.‍
Rotate Ticks: On horizontal axes, you can rotate tick labels to angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, or 90°. This can improve readability, especially when dealing with long or overlapping tick labels.
Use Short Format: On the dependent axis, you can display axis tick values in a compact format, such as 1K for 1,000 or 1M for 1,000,000.

The following chart formatting option applies to both axes:

Clip Chart: Restrict chart items such as bars and symbols from extending beyond the boundaries of the chart container, ensuring all items remain within the outermost values on both axes.

Colors

Color formatting is defined in the Colors section under the Chart tab:

You can specify a Color Field, which can be a text field or numeric (number, currency, percent, or measurement) field from the selected dataset. If you select a text field, each unique value in that field will be treated as a category and can be assigned a color. For numeric fields, you can configure a Color Gradient, Domain Minimum and Maximum, and Color Scale. These features are explored in greater detail in our Colors page.

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To color bars according to the direction the arrow faces, create a dataset text field (column) that contains either the value "increase" or "decrease" in each cell. Then select this field as the Color Field and assign it meaningful colors (often red for "decrease").

Settings

The Settings section under the Chart tab contains the following options:‍

Start Symbol: An arrow symbol is automatically displayed at the end of each arrow bar; enabling this option displays a symbol at the start of the arrow bar too. The symbol color always matches the remainder of the arrow bar. The following symbols are available:

"Arrow" is an arrow facing the end of the arrow bar.
"Arrow (Reversed)" is an arrow facing away from the arrow bar.
"Circle" is a filled circle.
"Circle (Outlined)" is an outlined circle.
"None" is the default state, with no symbol displayed at the start of the arrow bar.

Arrow Width: In arrow plots, change the width of the arrow bar from the default value, 1.5px.

Annotations

In the Annotations section under the Chart tab, you can select Display Bar Annotations. This lets you append text adjacent to each arrow bar (to the left of arrows pointing leftward and to the right of arrows pointing rightward). You can choose any column to display here.

Tooltips

Tooltips can be enabled by selecting the Chart tab, navigating to the Tooltip section, and selecting Display Tooltip. These are automatically configured to display the fields selected in the chart.

Overview
Setup
Connecting to Datasets
Connecting to Filters
Sorting
Axes
Colors
Settings
Bars
Ranges
Annotations
Tooltips