You will never forget it after this!
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Radial charts have always intimidated me because I considered them difficult — probably because all the tutorials I came across mentioned copying and pasting a few calculations without any logical explanations. Am I supposed to look it up every time I am in need of a radial chart?!
Well, luckily I am not a copy-paste person. I can remember things only when I understand them, and I like to grasp the concepts behind what I’m doing. So, I tried creating a radial chart while understanding the logic behind various steps involved, and it was like magic unfolding in front of me. So, let’s get to it!
Please note that for this article,
- All images, unless otherwise noted, are by the author.
- The dataset used is : The Sample — Superstore data set.
It is a free dataset which comes with Tableau. It contains information about products, sales, profits, and so on that we can use to identify key areas for improvement within this fictitious company.
We will start by understanding how to plot data on a circle. We will then implement the same principle to create two different types of radial bar charts.