A 2D Map is a way of visualizing geospatial data, or data with locations. This is especially useful for detailed views of street-level data or city-level data. For larger-scale, more global data, consider using a 3D Globe.

Create a 2D Map

1. Add a Longitudinal feature to the X dimension and a Latitudinal feature to the Y dimension.

   Note: Longitude and Latitude features should be in Decimal Degrees (DD) format.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Map.

3. (Optional) Adding a feature to the Z dimension provides each point with a height based on its value, helping to further differentiate points that are close to each other.

   Tip: To more easily see height differences, right-click and drag anywhere on the map to tilt it.

You can also add features to the Color, Size, and Shape dimensions to pack a lot of information onto an easily digestible map.

Plot Settings

The 2D Map plot has a number of settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( )in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View

Zoom: Click the + or - sign to zoom in or out. You can also scroll on your mouse to do the same.

Map Service

Choose which mapping Provider to use and choose a map display Style (Topographic, Ocean, Imagery, or Gray).

You can also add a Custom Map provider. To do so:

1. Click the global Settings icon ( ).
2. Navigate to Maps.
3. Enter a custom provider URL.
4. Return to Plot Settings.
5. Under Map Service, choose Custom.

Heatmap

By default, each point will be visualized individually on the map. Virtualitics Explore offers a Heatmap to view areas of higher or lower concentrations of points.

To enable or disable Heatmap, in Plot Settings, check the box next to Heatmap.

Once you've enabled Heatmap, visual settings will be made available for adjusting the radius and intensity of the Heatmap.

A 3D Globe is a way of examining geospatial data, or data with locations. This is great for visualizing global trends or country-level data. For smaller-scale, more local data, consider using a 2D Map.

Create a 3D Globe

1. Add a Longitudinal feature to the X dimension and a Latitudinal feature to the Y dimension.

   Note: Longitude and Latitude features should be in Decimal Degrees (DD) format.

2. Click Apply to create a 3D Globe.

3. (Optional) Adding a feature to the Z dimension provides each point with a height based on its value, helping to further differentiate points that are close to each other.

Tip: You can also add features to the Color, Size and Shape dimensions to pack a lot of information onto an easily digestible map.

Plot Settings

The 3D Globe plot has a number of settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

Display

Style: Choose how the 3D Globe should display (Natural, Dark, Black Ocean, Blue Ocean, Gray Ocean, Water Color, Topographic, or Night).

Heatmap

By default, each point will be visualized individually on the map. Virtualitics Explore offers a Heatmap to view areas of higher or lower concentrations of points.

To enable or disable Heatmap, in Plot Settings, check the box next to Heatmap.

Once you've enabled Heatmap, visual settings will be made available for adjusting the radius and intensity of the Heatmap.

A Scatter Plot is a common plot type that visualizes each row in your dataset as a single point on either a 2D or 3D plot. This is most helpful to view how numerical features relate to each other. By adding even more dimensions like Color, Size, and Shape to your Scatter Plots, you can recognize very complex relationships in your data.

Create a Scatter Plot

1. Add features to both the X and Y dimensions.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Scatter Plot.

3. (Optional) Add another feature to the Z dimension to create a 3D Scatter Plot.

Tip: Adding a feature to Color will help make trends in the visualization more apparent. The Color dimension is usually best suited for the feature you are most interested in.

Additional dimensions that work well with Scatter Plots are Size, Shape, Group By, Playback, Halo, and Pulsation.

For very large datasets (in the millions of points), you may want to change the Shape Options to Point Cloud to improve performance.

Plot Settings

The Scatter Plot has additional settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View Points

Choose whether to Show Points or Hide Points.

A Convex Hull Plot is based on a Scatter Plot and adds shapes that outline all points of each color, allowing you to visualize groups of data on a single plot and identify regions of overlap or separation.

Create a Convex Hull Plot

1. Add features to both the X and Y dimensions.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Convex Hull Plot. This will show a single Convex Hull encompassing all of your points.

3. (Optional) Add another feature to the Z dimension to create a 3D Convex Hull Plot.

Tip: By adding a feature to the Color dimension, you will see multiple Convex Hulls representing areas where each color is more common on your plot.

Plot Settings

The Convex Hull Plot has additional settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View Points

Choose whether to Show Points or Hide Points.

An Ellipsoid is based on a Scatter Plot and adds confidence intervals displayed as 2D or 3D ellipsoids. This is one way of visualizing the most common distributions in your data with respect to your features of interest.

Create an Ellipsoid Plot

1. Add features to both the X and Y dimensions.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Ellipsoid plot. This will show a single ellipsoid considering all of your points.

3. (Optional) Add another feature to the Z dimension to create a 3D Ellipsoid plot.

Tip: By adding a feature to the Color dimension, you will see multiple ellipsoids representing areas where each color is more common on your plot.

Plot Settings

The Ellipsoid Plot has additional settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View Points

Choose whether to Show Points or Hide Points.

Confidence

The default confidence interval is 95%. Here, you can adjust the confidence level (a higher confidence will result in a larger ellipsoid, while a lower confidence will result in a smaller ellipsoid).

A Violin Plot, based on a Scatter Plot, spreads out overlapping points so that you can better see areas of high concentrations of points. They are useful in visualizing distributions of Scatter Plot data.

Create a Violin Plot

1. Add features to both the X and Y dimensions.

   Note: At least one of these features needs to be categorical, otherwise the plot will be identical to a Scatter Plot.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Violin Plot.

3. (Optional) Add another feature to the Z dimension to create a 3D Violin Plot.

Tip: Adding a feature to Color will help make trends in the visualization more apparent. The Color dimension is usually best-suited for the feature you are most interested in.

A Histogram is a very common plot type used to group rows in your data into different bins. Grouping your data into different bins can help you identify patterns, especially which combinations of factors commonly occur together. Histograms can be used in either 1D, 2D, or 3D.

Create a Histogram

1. Add a feature to the X dimension.

2. Click Apply to create a 1D Histogram.

3. (Optional) Add features to the Y and Z dimensions to create 2D and 3D Histograms which will allow you to see even more combinations, helping to identify more powerful insights.

Tip: Add another feature to the Color dimension to view combinations of features of interest.

Plot Settings

The Histogram has additional settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

Number of Bins

Choose the number of bins that should be included for each dimension.

Volume By

By default, the height (or volume in 3D) of each bin corresponds to the number of rows in that bin. If you place a feature on the Size dimension, you can choose to set the height (or volume) to correspond to the Count, Average, or Sum of the features on the Size dimension (you can also set to Uniform). This can add even more context to your plot (also called a Bar Plot).

A Line Plot allows you to track how certain metrics change with respect to another feature, with your data points connected by straight lines. Line Plots are commonly used to create time series plots, helping you to view changes in your data over time.

Create a Line Plot

1. Add features to both the X and Y dimensions.

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Line Plot.

3. (Optional) Add a feature to either of the Color or Group By dimensions to create separate lines for different groups in your data.

   Note: The default is Color. To use Group By to create separate lines, see below under Plot Settings > View By.

4. (Optional) Add a feature to the Z dimension to create a 3D Line Plot. This allows you to see how multiple independent features (the Y and Z dimensions) change with respect to a dependent feature (the X dimension).

Plot Settings

The Line Plot has a number of settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View Points

Choose to Show All, Hide Points, Hide Lines, or Hide Points and Lines.

View By

If you've added a feature to either Color or Group By, here you can choose how to primarily visualize the plot.

A Surface Plot creates a continuous surface from your data in either 2D or 3D to view how one feature is affected by two others.

To ensure this requirement, check that the total number of points in your dataset equals the number of unique values in X multiplied by the number of unique values in Z.

The Group By dimension can also be used if there are multiple surfaces described in the data. In this case, each category in the feature mapped to Group By must individually satisfy the above criteria.

Create a Surface Plot

1. Add one feature to the X and Z dimensions (please note that these should be the X and Z features mentioned in the function in the note above).

2. Click Apply to create a 2D Surface plot. This will show a single solid surface.

3. (Optional) Add a feature to the Color dimension (please note that this should be the Y feature mentioned in the function above), to create a heatmap that shows how your Color feature is affected by the X and Z features.

   Tip: Typically, a Color gradient looks best on this plot. You can change from Color bins to a Color gradient by opening the Color settings.

4. Adding the same feature that is mapped to Color to the Z dimension will create a 3D Surface plot.

Plot Settings

The Surface Plot has additional settings that can be changed. To do so:

1. Navigate to the Mapping Panel.

2. Click the Menu ( ) in the top right corner.

3. Click Plot Settings.

View Points

Choose to Show Points or Hide Points.