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Donut Chart

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  • Donut Chart Encoding Channels
  • Use Cases
  • Customization Options
  • Examples
  • Limitations

Donut Charts display data in a series of segments of a circle, with larger segments representing larger data values. The entire circle represents the sum of all data values, and each segment indicates the proportion of each category in the data to the total.

Donut charts provide the following encoding channels:

Encoding Channel
Description
Label

The category encoding channel. Atlas Charts creates a segment in the donut for each unique value from this field.

Note

The Label encoding channel supports binning for numeric and date fields. The channel supports sorting and limiting for string fields.

Arc

The aggregation encoding channel. Atlas Charts aggregates this field based on the aggregation method selected. This field dictates the size of each circle segment.

If you don't add a field to the Label channel, you can add multiple fields to the Arc channel. Atlas Charts creates one segment for each encoded field.

Donut charts are ideal for giving readers a quick overview of the proportional distribution of a dataset. Use donut charts when the general trend of data is more important than precise data values. Donut charts are especially useful when there is a low number of categories to visualize, because it is easier to compare fewer segments of the circle to see which values make up the greatest parts of the whole.

Consider using donut charts to display:

  • The proportion of store customers who place orders in-store versus online

  • The proportion of various resources exported by a country

  • The choices thrown during several Rock, Paper, Scissors games

Note

Although you can limit your data to reduce the number of categories in the visualization, this may not be the best choice for donut charts. The purpose of donut charts is to show each value as a proportion of a total, so excluding categories may result in a misleading visualization that reflects inaccurate proportions.

If you do limit your data, donut charts enable the Show "All Others" option by default. This option creates an "All others" category that represents the sum of the omitted values and ensures that chart values are displayed as a proportion of the total.

When looking to compare individual data values, rather than show values as a proportion to a whole, consider using a column or bar chart.

The following customization options are specific to donut charts. To see all available customization options, see Customize Charts.

You can dictate whether Charts displays text labels for categories in your donut charts.

To set this option:

  1. Open the Customize pane for your chart.

  2. In the General section, set the Data Category Labels toggle switch to the desired setting.

Note

When you enable one or both of the Data Value Labels or Data Category Labels settings on a Donut Chart with many categories, Atlas Charts only renders labels for the highest value categories.

You can dictate whether Charts displays text labels for your data values. Data value labels show the exact values of your data points.

To set this option:

  1. Open the Customize pane for your chart.

  2. In the General section, set the Data Value Labels toggle switch to the desired setting.

To customize the formatting of the number in the data label, modify the Number Formatting settings for the relevant field.

Note

When used with stacked column and bar charts, data labels show the sum of all series in each column or bar.

You can dictate whether a Donut Chart displays data values as raw values or percentages. By default, data value labels show the raw values of your data points. For percentage values in Donut Charts, the whole value is the total value of the entire chart. Percentage labels are always rounded to one decimal place, and do not adhere to Number Formatting settings.

To set this option:

  1. Open the Customize pane for your chart.

  2. In the General section, set the Data Value Labels toggle switch to on if off.

  3. Select Show Value or Show Percentage from the drop-down.

The following chart visualizes sales data from a mock office supply store. Each document in the collection represents an individual sale, which contains information on the item(s) sold and the customer conducting the purchase. This donut chart shows the proportional counts of the three different purchase methods the store provides:

Donut Chart Using Count Example
click to enlarge

The Label field of purchaseMethod tells Atlas Charts to create a circle segment for each unique value in the purchaseMethod field. Atlas Charts proportions each segment according to the aggregated value signified in the Arc encoding channel. In this case, we aggregate to find the total count of documents with the same purchaseMethod value.

We see based on the visualization that the most common purchase method is In store, followed by Online.

Note

In this example we are counting entire documents, so it does not matter what field we select for the Arc field. No matter what field we apply, the visualization will still be the same.

The following chart visualizes personal workout data. Each document in the collection represents a single workout activity, which includes information on the type of activity performed and the amount of time spent exercising. This donut chart shows the proportional time spent performing each exercise activity:

Donut Chart Using Sum Example
click to enlarge

The Label field of Activity Type tells Atlas Charts to create a circle segment for each unique value in the Activity Type field. Atlas Charts proportions each segment according to the aggregated value signified in the Arc encoding channel. In this case, we aggregate to find the total sum of workout times for documents with the same Activity Type value.

We see based on the visualization that the activity with the greatest total workout time is Surf, followed by Bike Ride.

The following chart visualizes rental property data. Each document in the collection represents a single rental property, which includes information on prices. This donut chart shows the average price of all properties in the collection for a daily, weekly, and monthly rental:

Donut Chart Multiple Arc Fields Example
click to enlarge

Because there is no Label field, Atlas Charts creates a circle segment for each Arc field. Atlas Charts proportions each segment according to the aggregated value signified in the Arc encoding channel. In this case, we aggregate the mean price for all properties rented by the day, week, and month.

The maximum query response size for a donut chart is 5000 documents.

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