---
title: "Scatter Plot"
slug: "time-series-scatter-plot"
updated: 2023-03-14T02:48:43Z
published: 2023-03-14T02:48:43Z
canonical: "docs.preset.io/time-series-scatter-plot"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.preset.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Scatter Plot

The Scatter Plot excels at showcasing change over time, especially for continuous values. Here are some examples:

![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/scatter_plots.png)

### Reference Content

If you're new to visualizing data in Preset, we recommend the following reference articles:

- [Creating a Chart](https://portal.document360.io/v1/docs/creating-a-chart): A walkthrough of the overall process of chart selection and creation.
- [Using Preset Chart Builder](https://portal.document360.io/v1/docs/using-preset-explore): How to work with the Chart Builder page, the primary interface used when creating a chart.

## **Creating a Scatter Plot**

To create a Scatter Plot, you need to define the following values:

- the column you want as the X-axis
- the metric(s) you want to visualize on the Y-axis
- the column(s) you want the metric(s) to be grouped / categorized by

These are all defined in the **Data** tab within Chart Builder.

**Simple Scatter Plot (no dimensions)**

Below is a very simple scatter plot that shows a single metric varying over time.![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-26%20at%201.05.24%20PM.png)

Here's an explanation of the selections we made in the chart builder interface to generate this chart.

| ![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/Revised%20x-axis(1).png) | **X-axis** - X-axis: Select the column (e.g., Time, Categories) to be visualized. - Time Grain: Define the granularity of the X-axis (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, etc.). The field will appear for temporal dimensions only. |
| --- | --- |
| ![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/Scatter%20Plot%20Metrics.png) | **Metric(s) on Y-axis** - Drag or select the Metric(s) to be visualized on the Y-axis. |

Here's the SQL query that Preset generated:

```plsql
SELECT DATE_TRUNC('DAY', started_at) AS "started_at",
       count(DISTINCT ride_id) AS "COUNT_DISTINCT(ride_id)"
FROM dbt_smukherjee.citibike_trips
WHERE started_at >= '2022-04-01 00:00:00.000000'
  AND started_at < '2022-05-01 00:00:00.000000'
GROUP BY DATE_TRUNC('DAY', started_at)
ORDER BY "COUNT_DISTINCT(ride_id)" DESC
LIMIT 10000
```

This hopefully helps you understand the mapping from the chart builder options above to the final generated SQL query.

**Scatter Plot (with dimensions)**

Below is a similar chart to the one above but with a dimension (bike type) added.

![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/Screen%20Shot%202022-08-26%20at%201.14.09%20PM.png)

To generate this chart, we re-used the same selections from the first chart but made the following, additional selections:

| ![](https://cdn.document360.io/4749ddf8-aa05-4f3f-80e1-07a5d2d0f137/Images/Documentation/ts_scatter_dim.jpg) | **Dimensions** - Select any columns you want to slice/separate the series objects by. The unique values for those columns will be used to group together values and generate each X series object. |
| --- | --- |

Here's the SQL query that Preset generated:

```plsql
SELECT DATE_TRUNC('DAY', started_at) AS "started_at",
       rideable_type AS "rideable_type",
       count(DISTINCT ride_id) AS "COUNT_DISTINCT(ride_id)"
FROM dbt_smukherjee.non_member_trips
GROUP BY DATE_TRUNC('DAY', started_at),
         rideable_type
ORDER BY "COUNT_DISTINCT(ride_id)" DESC
```

## Advanced Analytics

As with most visualizations in Preset, the Scatter Plot supports **Advanced Analytics** features like:

- [Rolling Window and Rolling Function](https://docs.preset.io/v1/docs/rolling-window)
- [Time Shift and Resampling](https://docs.preset.io/v1/docs/time-comparison)