{"id":216,"date":"2014-10-31T10:04:57","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T10:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.www.sharpsightlabs.com\/?p=216"},"modified":"2021-07-23T21:46:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T02:46:47","slug":"bubble-chart-in-r-basic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/blog\/bubble-chart-in-r-basic\/","title":{"rendered":"How to create a bubble chart in R"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bubble Plot Overview<\/h2>\n

The bubble chart is a variant of the scatterplot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like in the scatterplot, points are plotted on a chart area (typically an x-y grid). <\/p>\n

Two quantitative variables are mapped to the x and y axes, and a third quantitative variables is mapped to the size of each point.<\/p>\n

Uses<\/h2>\n

Bubble charts are used when you want to compare data points on three quantitative variables. The x and y position represent the magnitude of two of the quantitative variables, and the area of the bubble represents the magnitude of the third quantitative variable.<\/p>\n

Code: bubble chart in R<\/h2>\n

Below, we provide some simple code to create a bubble chart in R using the ggplot2 package. To do this, you’ll need to have R and ggplot2 installed. If you don’t have R set up and installed, enter your name and email in the sidebar on the right side of the page and we’ll send you a pdf to help you get set up.<\/p>\n

Here’s the code to create a simple bubble chart in R.<\/p>\n

\r\n\r\nlibrary(ggplot2)    # load ggplot2 plotting package\r\n\r\n# set 'seed' for random number generation \r\nset.seed(53)        \r\n\r\n# CREATE DATA FRAME\r\n#  1. create 'x_var' as 15 random, normally distributed numbers (using rnorm)\r\n#  2. create 'y_var' as 15 random, normally distributed numbers (using rnorm)\r\n#  3. create 'size_var' as a random number between 1 and 10\r\n#  4. combine these variables into a single data frame using the data.frame() function\r\nx_var <- rnorm( n = 15, mean = 5, sd = 2)\r\ny_var <- x_var + rnorm(n = 15, mean = 5, sd =4)\r\nsize_var <- runif(15, 1,10)\r\n\r\ndf.test_data <- data.frame(x_var, y_var, size_var)\r\n\r\n# PLOT THE DATA USING GGPLOT2\r\nggplot(data=df.test_data, aes(x=x_var, y=y_var)) +\r\n  geom_point(aes(size=size_var)) +\r\n  scale_size_continuous(range=c(2,15)) +\r\n  theme(legend.position = \"none\")\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/br><\/p>\n
Results<\/h2>\n
\"Bubble<\/a><\/p>\n
Explanation<\/h2>\n
Does this seem complicated?  It's okay if the code seems a little difficult to understand at first.  That's okay.<\/p>\n
It's probably obvious to you that this is basically a scatterplot.  (If you haven't read about how to build a scatterplot in r<\/a> then it might be instructive to start there.)  <\/p>\n
What might not be obvious is that the code to create a scatterplot vs a bubble chart in R (using ggplot) is almost identical<\/i>. <\/p>\n
To illustrate that point, let's look at the code first.<\/p>\n
\r\nggplot(data=df.test_data, aes(x=x_var, y=y_var)) +\r\n  geom_point(aes(size=size_var)) +          # Plot points\r\n  scale_size_continuous(range=c(2,15)) +    # Modify the size of the bubbles.  Don't worry about this line.\r\n  theme(legend.position = \"none\")           # Remove the legend, just to simplify the plot. Don't worry about this line.\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/br>
\nHere, we're calling the ggplot()<\/inline_code> function, which is the command that tells R's ggplot package that we're going to create a plot (i.e,. a chart).  Inside the function, we first indicate that the df.test_data data frame contains the data we want to plot (data=df.test_data<\/inline_code>).<\/p>\n
Next we use the aes()<\/inline_code> function to create a relationship between the variables in our data frame and aesthetic elements<\/i> in the plot.  In this case, we're mapping the variable x_var to the x-axis using x=x_var<\/inline_code> and mapping y_var to the y-axis (y=y_var<\/inline_code>).  To be clear: position on x-axis and position on y-axis are aesthetic attributes<\/i>.  Any geometric object we draw on a plot is going to have an x position and a y position.  <\/p>\n
On the next line, we indicate that we want to plot points<\/i>.  We do this by using geom_point()<\/inline_code>.<\/p>\n
\r\n  geom_point(aes(size=size_var)) +          # Plot points\r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/br>
\nWe're doing something special though.  Look at that additional call to the aes()<\/inline_code> function inside of geom_point()<\/inline_code>.  Inside the aes()<\/inline_code> function there's a piece of code size=size_var<\/inline_code>.   That piece of code indicates that we want to manipulate the size of each point that gets plotted.<\/p>\n
Remember, 'size_var' is a variable in our data frame.  And size=<\/inline_code> is a parameter that allows us to manipulate the size of the points we're plotting with geom_point()<\/inline_code>.<\/p>\n
So basically, geom_point(aes(size=size_var))<\/inline_code> tells ggplot that we're going to be plotting points and the size of each point will be specified by the 'size_var' variable in our data frame.<\/p>\n
Now let's take another look. Try removing<\/i> aes(size=size_var)<\/inline_code> from geom_point()<\/inline_code>.  That would give us the following modified code:<\/p>\n
\r\n# Modified Plot\r\nggplot(data=df.test_data, aes(x=x_var, y=y_var)) +\r\n  geom_point() \r\n<\/pre>\n
<\/br>
\nWhich gives us the following plot:
\n\"bubble-chart-in-r_scatterplot-variant\"<\/a><\/p>\n
What is this? It's a scatter plot.  <\/p>\n
When we create plots in R with the ggplot2 package, the difference between a scatterplot and a bubble chart is simply aes(size=size_var)<\/inline_code>.  One little piece of code gave you a new chart type.  <\/p>\n
That's why ggplot is so powerful.  Adding or removing a few pieces of code can give you new chart types.  Moreover, how you do this is systematic<\/i>.  There's an underlying system that underpins how ggplot works.  Once you understand that system, you can create truly stunning, insightful, valuable visualizations easily.<\/p>\n
Notes<\/h3>\n
The proper way to size each bubble is by mapping the variable to the area of the bubble (not the radius, diameter, or circumference of the bubble). See Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n
GGPlot automatically sizes according to area, so you don't have to worry about that when using the code above, but it is something to keep in mind if you ever use a different data visualization tool.<\/p>\n
Related Visualizations<\/h3>\n
Scatterplot<\/a>
\nQuadrant Chart
\nDot Distribution Map<\/p>\n
<\/br>
\n<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How to create a bubble chart in r using the ggplot2 library.  Here we provide code and a tutorial that explains how the code works, step-by-step.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-05-04 15:08:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharpsightlabs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}