Scatter Plots

Learn about building and configuring scatter plots in Mappica.

Overview

Scatter plots display data as individual points plotted on a two-dimensional grid, where each point's position is determined by two numerical variables—one on the horizontal axis and one on the vertical axis. In Mappica, these points are visualized as symbols, which can be customized in size, shape, and color to represent additional variables. Scatter plots are particularly useful for identifying relationships, patterns, clusters, or outliers within a dataset, helping to reveal trends or anomalies that might not be immediately apparent in tabular data.

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.

Next, the Data Format is displayed. Scatter plots always use Long Data because they display raw data values, where there is not always a clear relationship between a given independent axis value and corresponding dependent values across multiple series.

Finally, choose the Fields that should be used to construct the chart. Every record (row) in the dataset is an individual point on the scatter plot. The fields you select specify certain dimensions for that point:

Horizontal Axis Field: The horizontal axis value for each scatter plot point. If you select a text or date field, the axis is treated as a discrete axis, with each unique value in the field added as a tick value. If you select a number, currency, percent, or measurement field, the axis is treated as a continuous axis.
Vertical Axis Field: The vertical axis value for each scatter plot point. The behavior of the axis—discrete or continuous—follows the same logic as the Horizontal Axis Field, based on the selected field type.

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 scatter plot, 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 horizontal axis of the scatter plot under the Chart tab in the Sort section.

Axes

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

‍Add Label: When enabled, label text appears adjacent to the axis. You can also align the label text.
Use Discrete Scale: Choose whether the axis should be formatted using a discrete scale instead of the default continuous scale.
Customize Range: Specify a custom minimum and maximum value for the 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 axis line will be displayed in a default location.
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.‍
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. ‍‍‍
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.

Symbols

The Symbol section under the Chart tab can be used to manage the shape and size of the symbols displayed on the scatter plot:‍

Symbol Shape: Choose between Fixed, which assigns the same shape to all symbols, and Dynamic, which assigns shapes to symbols based on the value of a Symbol Shape Field (which must be a text field). If you choose to assign shapes dynamically, you can choose a symbol shape for every unique value in the selected field.

Symbol Size: Choose between Fixed, which lets you pick a fixed size for all symbols in the scatter plot, and Dynamic, which varies the size of each symbol based on a Symbol Size Field (which must be a number, percent, currency, or measurement field). If you choose to assign sizes dynamically, you can choose a Maximum Symbol Size, which is the size the symbol will be drawn when the value of the Symbol Size Field equals the Maximum Symbol Value. When the value of the Symbol Size Field is 0, the symbol will be drawn at 0px (i.e. will not be visible). For all other values, the symbol size is scaled proportionally.

Symbol Order Field: This field controls the layering of symbols on the chart. It allows you to specify which symbols should appear on top and which should be positioned beneath others. You can select a numeric or text field, which manages symbol ordering as follows:

If you select a number, percent, currency, or measurement field, symbols with smaller Symbol Order Field values are placed beneath others (unless you select the "reversed" option, in which case they are placed above others).
If you select a text field, symbols are layered alphabetically by their Symbol Order Field values, with values closer to the beginning of the alphabet layered at the bottom and values closer to the end of the alphabet layered at the top. Again, selecting the "reversed" option flips this order.

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.

A Fixed color formatting option is available alongside the Variable formatting options described above. The option applies a single color to all chart symbols.

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. An optional Label Field can be selected; this label, or heading, is placed at the top of the tooltip and can be used to provide identifying information for each individual data point.

Overview
Setup
Connecting to Datasets
Connecting to Filters
Sorting
Axes
Symbols
Colors
Tooltips