Introduction
Tableau does not have a feature specifically called “Network Graph.” However, Tableau has a wide array of visualization capabilities, and network graphs, also known as network visualizations or network diagrams, can be created using various techniques and customizations within Tableau.
A network graph is a type of visualization used to display relationships between different entities. It consists of nodes (representing entities) and edges (representing connections or relationships between the entities). Network graphs are particularly useful for visualizing complex relationships and understanding patterns within interconnected data.
For this project, I downloaded the dataset from kaggle here. The target is to find out the most importance characters in each season and on over all series.
Preparing the Data
Following the steps in blogs (https://www.phdata.io/blog/how-to-create-network-visualizations-tableau/) and (https://nicole-klassen.medium.com/building-a-network-graph-in-tableau-bdaec20d79e4) are easy with the help of the Gephi tool which can be downloaded for free.
The essential steps are to create two files with X and Y axes from Gephi. One of the files named “Tableau Graph” contains the X Target, Y target, Base and Direction. Below is a screenshot of the file.
I named the second file as “Node X_Y” which should contain the X axis, Y axis and ID3 (the column name of the labels). Below is a screenshot of the file.
Create Graph in Tableau
Finally, we can now proceed to create the graph in Tableau. The first step is to create a relationship between the two files above by the IDs.
Moving on to the worksheet, create two calculated fields named “X adjusted” and “Y Adjusted”.
1. X Adjusted
if [Base]= 1 then [X]
ELSEIF [Base]=2 then [x target]
END
2. Y Adjusted
if [Base]=1 then [Y]
ELSEIF [Base]=2 then [y target]
END
Following this, drag the X adjusted and Y Adjusted fields to the Columns and Rows Panels respectively. Create a dual axis for the Y Adjusted field. The canvas should look like this. The next steps are to make the graph nicer by adjusting its size and colours.
There you have it, I have created a simple network analysis on Tableau! Overall, network graphs in Tableau can be used for exploring relationships between the data. Thanks for reading my blog. You can download my worksheet on Tableau Public here.