data visualisation – Darragh Murray

Down With Tadpoles, Up With Arrows | The Superiority of the Arrow Chart

October 4, 2022October 5, 2022DarraghData, Tableau TipLeave a Reply

So yesterday I published a blog on how to create a Tadpole Chart. And there was some great feedback and some great debate over the usability both on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

However, one tweet thread with Tableau Ambassador Christina Gorga and Data Viz Wizard Steve Wexler was particularly interesting

As much as I like the aesthetic appeal of the comet and tadpole, an arrow chart is now my first choice. The comet doesn’t work well if the two values are close together.

— Steve Wexler (@DataRevelations) October 3, 2022

After reading this, I felt somewhat foolish.

Another commenter … Read the rest

Analysing Interstate Migration Movements in Australia

September 27, 2022September 27, 2022DarraghData, Data Analysis, VisualisationLeave a Reply

I recently published a dashboard to allow people to view Australian interstate migration figures using ABS data.

As I mentioned in the post introducing the dashboard (which you can read here), interstate migration became a hot topic throughout the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We witnessed en-masse movements of Australians throughout the country – some were seeking an escape from COVID and associated lockdowns, while others were seeking a change of scenery as they realised they could work their high-paying jobs in Australian metro locations such as Sydney and Melbourne from the comfort of other … Read the rest

Visualising Population | Australian Interstate Migration Figures

September 26, 2022DarraghData, Data Analysis, VisualisationLeave a Reply

I’m a migrant, and migration data has always fascinated me.

While the media focus is often on international migration to Australia, the COVID pandemic suddenly threw interstate migration into sharp focus, as lockdowns in various states may have incentivised different people to question where they lived and what type of life they wanted to live.

And as someone who was in the Queensland real estate market in 2021, it was often common to read stories about how people fleeing the lockdowns in southern Australian States and Territories were adding a lot of demand to a piping hot housing market.

As … Read the rest

The importance of exploratory data analysis: Exploring the first B2VB challenge

January 10, 2022July 18, 2022DarraghData AnalysisLeave a Reply

I kicked off the year participating in a brand-new data visualisation curated by
Eric Balash. It’s called ‘Back to Viz Basics’, also known by its hashtag #B2VB. It’s a fortnightly challenge where the data visualisation community – both new and old – come together to practice some core charting skills. You can read about the initiative here.

The first ‘official’ challenge was on the theme of the scatter plot, a chart type that’s a core communication tool of the data professional. Eric challenged us to analyse some
American college basketball data, specifically on coaching, to … Read the rest

A Cost of Insecurity – Comparing Spending on Military Capability v the Human Development Index

November 1, 2021November 3, 2021DarraghData, Tableau, VisualisationLeave a Reply

One great thing about the company I work for is that they continually encourage us to develop our skills via monthly data visualisation challenges. The latest challenge was themed on ‘scatter plots’ and it was definitely one I wished to be a part of – I love scatter plots!

Harking back to my postgraduate studies in international relations, I had sourced some data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute around the percentage of GDP various countries use to support their military capability. I was very keen to do some analysis using this data but momentarily stuck with what to … Read the rest

Fun with sets: Highlighting/filtering data using a shared attribute of a selected value in Tableau

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021DarraghData, Tableau, VisualisationLeave a Reply

Have you ever wanted to be able to filter or highlight records in a Tableau visualisation that share a common attribute? For example, say you had a visualisation and a filter that listed animals. You select ‘kangaroo’, and the visualisation would filter for ‘kangaroo’ and all other marsupials – animals that share the same infraclass as the chosen ‘kangaroo’.

Typically, when filtering in Tableau, you filter on a single dimension or measure and the filter action is limited to whatever you selected. Using the example above, if I chose ‘kangaroo’, the visualisation would filter for kangaroos but no other, unless … Read the rest