Creating a parallel coordinate plot

The parallel coordinate plot is used to compare data values of different types or magnitudes. All values are presented as points on a line, or profile, with one point per data column. Items that are similar to each other often show a similar profile.

Before you begin

See Parallel coordinate plot for a description of the concept.

Procedure

On the authoring bar, click Visualization types to open the flyout.
Drag the Parallel coordinate plot visualization type to the wanted position on the analysis page.
A suggestion of a parallel coordinate plot is presented.
Select the data columns you wish to include in the visualization.
1. Click the horizontal axis.
  The Select columns button is shown.
2. Click it to open the Select columns dialog.
  An example of the dialog is shown below.
3. In the dialog, specify the columns of interest, and in which order they should be shown by using the buttons in the middle.
Select which aggregation to apply for each of the columns to display.
1. Select the column in the Selected columns list.
2. In the Aggregation drop-down list, select the wanted aggregation type.
3. Click Close.
On the Line or Color axis, select the columns whose values you want to represent as lines.

Example

In the data table below, details about hotels at a tourist resort are listed. The values in the columns are of completely different types and incomparable to each other.
Data table showing details about hotels.

Data table showing details about hotels.

By creating the parallel coordinate plot below with one line per hotel, it is possible to compare the hotels and find a hotel that suits you. Here, the Color axis is used to split the data per hotel.
Parallel Coordinate Plot with one line per hotel.

Parallel Coordinate Plot with one line per hotel.

Perhaps Waterfront is a good choice, because you get a large room for a fair rate, and it is located not too far away from neither the beach nor the city. In addition, breakfast is included in the price, and the ranking is OK.

Tip: The actual values in a column can be displayed along the right-hand side of the visualization. Click the X-axis label for the column you are interested in.