Aggregating data

Visualizing data involves presenting aggregated values of the data you have loaded. Examples of aggregated values are sums, averages, counts of occurrences, or results from various statistical calculations. That is, they represent collections of data as single values. In most cases, the data to aggregate is numerical, but also non-numerical data can be aggregated.

About this task

Note: Some visualizations, like the table visualization, do not support aggregation of values, and sometimes values can be aggregated only on certain axes.

The resulting values of an aggregation reflect the current data. That is, when you filter the data, a re-calculation takes place instantly, and the visualization updates.

You specify which aggregation to use on the axis' column selector.

Before you begin

The data column of interest has been specified in the column selector.

Procedure

Click the arrow next to the column name in the column selector.
A popover listing all columns in the data table opens. The selected column is colored.
In the popover, click the arrow next to the old aggregation (if one is selected).
A list of available aggregations opens.

You can click the arrow at the bottom to show more aggregations.
Select the aggregation to show on the axis.

Tip: In the field at the bottom of the first popover, you can specify your own display name for the axis, when using the web client. In the installed client you expand the popover to reach the display name field.
Click anywhere outside the popover to close it.

Examples of aggregations

To illustrate some aggregations, this simple data table is used.

First, data in the numerical column 'Amount' is aggregated using Sum and Avg (average), respectively.

Second, data in the non-numerical column 'Gender' is aggregated using Count and UniqueCount, respectively.

For a list of available aggregations, see Aggregations and statistical measures. You can also define your own aggregations by making your own calculations.

Missing Aggregation Menu?

Some visualizations, for example scatter plots, are not aggregated by default, when using in-memory data. Instead, they show one item per row ("Marker by" is set to (Row Number)) and the aggregation menu is not available in the axis selector.

About this task

Note: An axis must be aggregated if you, for example, intend to show scatter plot markers as pies.

Procedure

To show the aggregation menu in an unaggregated scatter plot, either remove the (Row Number) selection from Marker by or use the column by which you want to aggregate on the Marker by selector.
Specify the aggregation as described above.