Sparklines are small, simple line graphs traditionally used for displaying trends or variations of some variable:
They can be displayed in the context of a graphical table or, separately, in a text area. The general idea of sparklines is that they can be included directly where they are needed, in tables or text, in order to provide context to a value. Sparklines can be set up to change with filtering like any traditional Spotfire visualization or they can be locked to show fixed values, using the Data page in the Sparkline Settings dialog.
See also:
How to Use the Graphical Table