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.

Availability Note.

This visual type supports smooth rendering of streaming data.

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.zip. [data source default.sfpd_incidents]. For an overview of shelves that specify this visual, see Shelves for Calendar Heatmap Visuals.

  1. Start a new visual based on dataset SFPD Incidents [data source default.sfpd_incidents]; see Creating Visuals.
  2. In the visuals menu, find and click Calendar Heatmap.

    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 date 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 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. If the datetime field is not automatically recognized as a date data type, convert it.

    On the Date shelf of the visual, click the date field, then click Date/Time Function on the first list, and then select Date from the second list.
  6. Note that the field on the Date shelf has a calendar icon to indicate that it is in the Date/Time category of data types.

  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.

    clicking to save