CSV de ejemplo
| City | MedianIncome | MedianRent | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin | 71576 | 1450 | 978908 |
| Denver | 77127 | 1650 | 715522 |
| Columbus | 58575 | 1150 | 905748 |
| Raleigh | 67266 | 1300 | 474069 |
| Tampa | 58922 | 1500 | 398173 |
| Boise | 66979 | 1350 | 235684 |
How to Create a Bubble Chart
A step by step walkthrough for turning a spreadsheet into a published bubble chart in PlotSet, from shaping three numeric columns to tuning the size scale and publishing.
Unos 9 minutosFour columns, one chart: how to create a bubble chart in PlotSet starts with a spreadsheet that has a label, two numeric axis columns and a size value. You will end up with a published chart where the bubbles are scaled by area, not radius, carry a size legend the reader can actually use, and still hold together once a handful of records turn out much bigger than the rest.
Budget about nine minutes if your data is already four clean columns. The part people spend extra time on is tuning the size scale so the biggest bubble does not swallow the smallest ones, so treat that as a bit of trial and error rather than a setting you flip once and forget.
Los datos que necesitas
Four columns, one row per entity: a label, two numeric axis columns, then a numeric size column. No merged cells, one header row.
All three numeric columns need to be plain numbers. A percentage stored as text with a percent sign, or an income figure stored with commas as text, will not map to an axis or to size.
The size column needs an amount, not a category. If your source data only has a bucket like small, medium or large, you need a real count or figure behind it before a bubble chart can size anything off it.
Zero and negative values break the size encoding. Area cannot represent a negative number, so filter those rows out or move that variable to colour instead.
Keep the entity count in the tens, not the hundreds. The example above has six rows for clarity; the sweet spot for a real chart is roughly ten to sixty before bubbles start stacking on top of each other.
Los pasos
El camino exacto en PlotSet, desde una plantilla en blanco hasta el gráfico terminado.
- 01
Open the bubble chart template
From the PlotSet dashboard, start a new project and choose the Bubble Chart template. It loads with sample data already mapped to X, Y, size and label, so you can see the four column shape PlotSet expects before touching your own file.
Todas las guías empiezan aquí. Elige la categoría y luego la plantilla. Es la misma cuadrícula sea cual sea el tipo de gráfico que busques. - 02
Shape your sheet into four columns
Put a label in the first column, then your two axis numbers, then the size value, one row per entity. If your source is a report with subtotal rows or merged header cells, flatten it first: the upload should be four plain columns and nothing else.
- 03
Bring in your file or connect a sheet
Use the data panel to import a CSV or .xlsx file, paste rows straight from a spreadsheet, or connect a Google Sheet so the chart can pick up later edits without a re-upload. PlotSet reads the first row as headers automatically.
La vista de datos, aquí en un proyecto de gráfico de barras. Sube un CSV, saca los números de una imagen con Magic Import o sincroniza una Google Sheet. El panel es el mismo en todos los tipos de gráfico. - 04
Map the label, X, Y and size columns
Confirm which column feeds each axis and which one drives bubble size. PlotSet usually guesses correctly when your headers are clear, but check it by hand if your sheet carries extra columns it might have picked over the ones you actually meant.
Las asignaciones deciden qué columna se convierte en la etiqueta, cuál aporta los valores y cuál define el color. Auto Binding las deduce de tus encabezados, así que revísalas en lugar de darlas por buenas. - 05
Tune the size scale
Adjust the minimum and maximum bubble size until the largest entity reads clearly bigger without hiding its neighbours underneath it. Confirm scaling is set to area, not radius, and turn on the size legend so the reader gets two or three reference bubbles with real numbers attached.
- 06
Label the ones that matter and colour by category
Add direct labels to the handful of bubbles that carry the story and leave the rest to hover tooltips. Labelling every bubble on a chart with more than a dozen entities just creates clutter. If you have a category column, turn on colour by group to separate the bubbles visually.
La pestaña Preview de un gráfico de tipo Bubble Chart. Todos los controles de estilo están en el panel enmarcado: apariencia, encabezado, pie de página y las opciones propias de este tipo de gráfico, cada grupo en su propia pestaña. - 07
Publish the chart, embed it, or export an image
Publish for a live, interactive chart with hover tooltips and a shareable link, grab the embed code for a page, or export a PNG, SVG or PDF when you need a static image for a deck.
Empieza con la plantilla de Bubble Chart, que ya trae datos de ejemplo cargados, y sustitúyelos por los tuyos.
Abrir la plantillaPublícalo, incrústalo o expórtalo
El último tramo es igual en todos los tipos de gráfico: Share convierte el gráfico en un enlace público en vivo y un código de incrustación, y Export lo guarda como un archivo estático.
Share: enlace público y código de incrustación
Al activar el código de incrustación y el enlace público, el gráfico queda publicado. El enlace se lo puedes enviar a cualquiera sin problema, y el código de incrustación se coloca en cualquier página como un iframe que conserva los tooltips al pasar el cursor y toda la interactividad. Si editas el gráfico más adelante, haz clic en Recreate para llevar esos cambios a ambos.
Export: SVG, PNG o JPG
Export guarda una copia estática en el tamaño que necesites. El SVG se mantiene nítido a cualquier escala y se puede seguir editando en una herramienta de diseño; PNG y JPG son la opción segura para diapositivas y documentos. El multiplicador de escala es lo que te da una imagen nítida en una pantalla retina.
Consejos de estilo para un Bubble Chart
Confirm the scale is set to area, not radius
Radius scaling makes a bubble twice as wide look four times as big, which misleads the reader every time. PlotSet defaults to area scaling for bubble charts, but if you have adjusted the size settings by hand, check the scale mode again before publishing.
Draw the big bubbles first and add some transparency
Send the largest bubbles to the back of the stack and lower the fill opacity a notch, so a big bubble does not fully hide a smaller one sitting underneath it. This matters most once your dataset passes twenty or so entities.
Ship a size legend with real numbers on it
Two or three reference bubbles with values attached turn the size encoding from decoration into information. Without a legend, a reader can tell one bubble is bigger than another but has no way to say by how much.
Filter or flag outliers that span orders of magnitude
If one record is a thousand times the size of the rest, pull it into its own callout or filter it out and say so in a caption. Otherwise every other bubble on the chart shrinks down to a dot next to it.
Errores comunes al hacer un Bubble Chart
One bubble swallows the whole chart
This is almost always an outlier in the size column, sometimes a totals row that snuck in with the real data. Sort the size column in PlotSet's data table, find the record that dwarfs the rest, and either filter it out or cap the maximum size in the scale settings.
Every bubble comes out roughly the same size
Check that the size column is actually mapped to a numeric field and not to the label or a category column by mistake. It also happens when the values in that column are stored as text with commas or a currency symbol, since PlotSet cannot size marks off text.
Labels overlap into an unreadable mess
This shows up once a chart has more than about fifteen bubbles with direct labels turned on. Turn off labels for anything but the handful of bubbles the chart is actually about, and let the rest surface their identity in the tooltip on hover.
Aprende más sobre el Bubble Chart
¿No estás seguro de que el Bubble Chart sea la opción correcta? Descubre qué es, cuándo usarlo y cuándo no.
Bubble Chart: preguntas frecuentes
Four columns: a label for each entity, two numeric columns for the X and Y position, and a third numeric column for bubble size. A category column is optional and adds colour grouping. All three numeric columns need to be plain numbers, not text with symbols or commas, or PlotSet cannot map them.
Crea tu Bubble Chart ahora
Gratis para empezar con más de 300 plantillas. No se necesita tarjeta de crédito.