Visualizations
29 Power BI visuals organised by the analytical question they answer, so you can start from what you need to communicate rather than the chart name.
Comparison
12“How do categories compare with each other?”
Compare values across categories with horizontal bars.
Compare values across short categories or discrete time periods.
Compare totals while also showing their internal composition.
Show composition across time or short categorical groups.
Compare proportional composition where every total equals 100%.
Compare proportional composition across ordered categories or time.
Show trends, direction and change over a continuous or ordered axis.
Combine clustered columns and a line to compare related measures.
Combine stacked composition with a line measure.
Show how category ranking changes across an ordered axis.
Show how proportional composition changes over an ordered/continuous axis, normalized to 100% at each point.
Map custom shapes/boundaries using TopoJSON/GeoJSON-style geographic definitions.
Trend over time
14“How is this developing?”
Compare values across short categories or discrete time periods.
Show composition across time or short categorical groups.
Compare proportional composition across ordered categories or time.
Show trends, direction and change over a continuous or ordered axis.
Show a trend while emphasizing magnitude through filled area.
Show cumulative composition changing over time.
Combine clustered columns and a line to compare related measures.
Combine stacked composition with a line measure.
Show how category ranking changes across an ordered axis.
Show simple part-to-whole relationships in a ring layout.
Show how proportional composition changes over an ordered/continuous axis, normalized to 100% at each point.
Detect unexpected deviations in supported line charts.
Provide geographic analysis using bubbles, markers, filled areas, heat maps, paths and other layers.
Legacy choropleth mapping of geographic areas.
Composition
13“What is this total made of?”
Compare totals while also showing their internal composition.
Show composition across time or short categorical groups.
Compare proportional composition where every total equals 100%.
Compare proportional composition across ordered categories or time.
Show cumulative composition changing over time.
Combine stacked composition with a line measure.
Explain sequential positive and negative contributions from a starting value to an ending value.
Show sequential stages in a process where volume typically decreases.
Show simple part-to-whole relationships.
Show simple part-to-whole relationships in a ring layout.
Show hierarchical part-to-whole relationships using nested rectangles.
Show how proportional composition changes over an ordered/continuous axis, normalized to 100% at each point.
Interactively break a measure down across dimensions to explore contributors.
Variance
2“Why did the number change?”
Relationship & distribution
5“How do two measures relate, and how is the data spread?”
Show the relationship between two numeric measures and reveal clusters/outliers.
Show simple part-to-whole relationships.
Show simple part-to-whole relationships in a ring layout.
Show hierarchical part-to-whole relationships using nested rectangles.
Identify factors statistically associated with a selected outcome.
Performance against target
4“Are we on track?”
Show trends, direction and change over a continuous or ordered axis.
Combine clustered columns and a line to compare related measures.
Combine stacked composition with a line measure.
Explain sequential positive and negative contributions from a starting value to an ending value.
Geographic analysis
5“Where is it happening?”
Provide geographic analysis using bubbles, markers, filled areas, heat maps, paths and other layers.
Legacy bubble/location mapping.
Legacy choropleth mapping of geographic areas.
Map custom shapes/boundaries using TopoJSON/GeoJSON-style geographic definitions.
Provide Esri-powered advanced geographic analysis within Power BI.
Guided exploration & AI
6“What is driving this, and what should I look at next?”
Show hierarchical part-to-whole relationships using nested rectangles.
Interactively break a measure down across dimensions to explore contributors.
Identify factors statistically associated with a selected outcome.
Generate natural-language summaries of report data.
Detect unexpected deviations in supported line charts.
Let users ask natural-language questions and generate a visual answer.