Calendar Heat Map Visuals

A calendar heatmap uses colored cells, typically in a monochromatic scale, to show relative number of events for each day in a calendar view. Days are arranged into columns by week and grouped by month and years. This enables you to quickly identify daily and weekly patterns, and to recognize anomalies.

The following steps demonstrate how to create a new calendar visual on a dataset SFPD Incidents, based on data previously imported into Arcadia from the datafile sfpd_incidents.csv. [data source default.sfpd_incidents].

  1. Start a new visual based on dataset SFPD Incidents [data source default.sfpd_incidents_2015]; see Creating Visuals.
  2. In the visuals menu, find and click calendar heat map (row 4, column 3).

    selecting calendar heatmap chart type
  3. Note that the shelves of the visual changed.

    They are now X, Y, Date, Measures, Tooltips, and Filters. The shelves Date and Measures are mandatory.

    shelves of calendar heatmap visual type
  4. To show specific items, populate the shelves from the available fields (Dimensions, Measures, and so on) in the Data menu.

    • Under Dimensions, select datetime and drag it over Date shelf on the main part of the screen. Drop to add it to the shelf.
    • Under Measures, select Record Count and drag it over Measures shelf on the main part of the screen. Drop to add it to the shelf.

      Note that Record Count is defined by Arcadia Data as a sum of events; if you hover over it with your mouse, you can see a black detail bubble with sum(1) contents.

  5. On the Date shelf, click (down arrow) on the datetime field, then click Date/Time Function on the first list, and subsequently select Date from the second list.

  6. Note that the Date shelf now contains the modified field to_date(datetime).

  7. Click Refresh Visual.

    The default calendar heat map visual appears.

  8. Change the title to SFPD Incidents - Calendar Heat Map.
  9. At the top left corner of the Visual Designer, click Save.