Overview
A Bubble Chart renders each Dimension value as a circular bubble on a rectangular plot, with one bubble per Dimension value. The Measure value drives both the bubble’s vertical position on the Y-axis and its size — producing a double-encoded display where higher values appear higher on the chart and as larger circles. Bubbles can be uniformly colored via the chart-level Bubble Properties Color, or value-driven via the per-Measure-column Heat Map gradient.
Bubble Charts are authored from Lens → Design → Chart Designer → Visualization → Bubble Chart. The Properties panel exposes Bubble Properties (Bubble Spacing, Color) as the Bubble-specific group; other Properties inherit from the Bar Chart, including the full axis-based Bar property surface (X-Axis, Y-Axis, Zooming and Panning, etc.). The Columns tab adds Heat Map as a per-Measure-column setting.
When to use it
- Magnitude comparison across a moderate number of categorical Dimension values — country totals, product performance, regional metrics.
- Cases where the double encoding (position + size) reinforces a single Measure’s reading, making rank order and absolute magnitude both immediately visible.
- Dashboards where the bubble form fits the visual composition better than bars — branded reports, marketing dashboards, executive summaries.
- Single-Measure comparisons where the Heat Map’s value-driven coloring adds a third visual dimension to the position + size encoding.
- Around five to fifteen Dimension values where the bubbles can spread out without overlapping.
Properties tab — Bubble Properties
Bubble Properties is the Bubble-specific group on the Properties tab. It controls chart-level visual settings for the bubbles themselves.
| Bubble Spacing | Horizontal spacing between bubbles. |
| Color | Single color applied to all bubbles when the per-column Heat Map is not configured. Functions as the chart’s default bubble color. |
Properties tab — inherited
Other Properties inherit from the Bar Chart.
| Title | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Legend | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Zooming and Panning | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Tooltip Options | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| X-Axis | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Y-Axis | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Background | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Label Position | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Padding | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Cumulative Data | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
| Adhoc Report | Bar Chart PD → Properties tab |
Columns tab
| Maximum Color | Color applied to the bubble representing the highest Measure value in the chart. |
| Minimum Color | Color applied to the bubble representing the lowest Measure value. Intermediate values interpolate between Minimum and Maximum Color. |
Other per-column settings inherit from the Bar Chart and Table Chart.
Key behaviors
One bubble per Dimension value. Each distinct Dimension value produces one bubble. The X-axis carries categorical positioning (one X-slot per Dimension value), not numeric. The Y-axis is numeric and reflects the Measure scale. Bubbles are typically rendered with the Dimension value as a label nearby.
Two color controls operate at different scopes. Bubble Properties Color sets a single chart-level color applied to all bubbles uniformly. The per-Measure-column Heat Map applies a value-driven gradient — different colors per bubble based on Measure value. The two are independent: leaving Heat Map unconfigured produces a uniformly colored chart; configuring Heat Map produces a gradient.
Heat Map is Measure-column-specific. Heat Map is exposed only under Measure Column items, not Dimension columns. This makes Heat Map a Measure-driven concept — the gradient maps Measure values to colors, so configuring it on a non-numeric Dimension would have no meaningful interpretation.