Excel Power View - Tiles Visualization

In case you have lot of data to display with significant data points at varied places, you might have to scroll very often in your Power View visualizations to find the data you are looking for. This would be tedious and also might not be smooth when you are presenting the results.

You can overcome this drudgery using the Tiles feature in Power View. With Tiles, you can gain insights from your data much more quickly. Tiles act as navigation strips, with a single Tile for each possible field value. When you click on a Tile, only the data related to that field value is displayed. As it is easy to scroll the values in the navigation strip that dynamically changes the corresponding values in the visualization, Tiles become an easy to use tool for you.

You can have Tiles in a Table, Matrix, Card and Chart or Map visualization. You can have a combination of these visualizations in Power View with a single Tile Navigation Strip and get them filtered with a Tile. A Tile can be simple text or an image.

Table Visualization with Tiles

Start with a Table visualization as follows −

Drag the fields Country, Sport and Medal Count to Power View. A Table will be displayed by default.

You can see that as the number of rows is large, it is difficult to scroll up and down to highlight the required and / or significant values.

Drag the field Sport from FIELDS area to TILE BY area in the Power View Fields pane. The Tiles appear at the top of the Table as a Navigation Strip.

You will observe the following −

• By default, the first Tile in the Navigation Strip is selected.

• In the Table, the values are filtered to that of the Tile selected. In this case, the Sport that is selected.

• There are arrow buttons at the left and right edges of the Navigation Strip to enable scrolling.

• There is a scroll bar below the Navigation Strip.

Exploring Data with Table Tiles Visualization

You can select a different Tile as follows −

• Scroll the Navigation Strip to display the Tile representing the Sport you are looking for, say, Polo.

• Click the Tile – Polo. The values in the Table are filtered to those of Polo.

You can see that the row Total is displayed. You have an option to turn Totals on or off.

• Click on the Table.
• Click the DESIGN tab on the Ribbon.
• Click Totals in the Options group.

• Select None from the dropdown list. The row – Totals will not be displayed.

• Select Rows from the dropdown list. The row – Totals will be displayed.

You can make the Tiles more appealing and meaningful by having images instead of Text.

Drag the field SportImage from SportPics table to TILE BY. You will get the Tiles as images, portraying each sport.

The images in Tiles are data bound. If you click on any image Tile, the Table will be filtered to that Sport values.

Tile Navigation Strip - Tab Strip

There are two types of Navigation Strips in Power View - Tile Flow and Tab Strip.

What you have created above is the Tab Strip.

• Adjust the size of the Tab Strip so that it spans the width of the Power View.
• Click on the Tile – Ski Jumping.

You will observe the following −

• When you add a field to the TILE BY area, the Tab Strip is displayed by default.

• Tab Strip is displayed across the top of the Power View.

• The label, Sport name is displayed below every image.

• By default, the first Tile in the Tab Strip is selected.

• There are arrow buttons at the left and right edges of the Tab Strip to enable scrolling.

• You can scroll to the left or right to display the Tiles.

• The highlighted Tile moves to the left or right as you scroll the Tab Strip. It can also go out of view, while scrolling.

• You can click on a Tile to select it. The Tile is highlighted at the same position as it was before.

• In the Table, the values are filtered to that of the Tile selected.

Tile Navigation Strip - Tile Flow

You can convert the Navigation Strip from Tab Strip to Tile Flow as follows −

• Click a Tile on the Tab Strip.

• Click the DESIGN tab on the Ribbon.

• Click Tile Type in the Tiles group.

• Select Tile Flow from the dropdown list.

The Navigation Strip shifts to the bottom of the Power View. This is Tile Flow.

You will observe the following −

• Tile Flow is displayed across the bottom of the Power View.

• By default, the first Tile in the Tile Flow is selected. It will be displayed at the center of the Tile Flow.

• There are no arrow buttons for scrolling.

• No Labels appear.

• You can scroll to the left or right by clicking on any of the Tiles to the left or right of the center Tile.

• The Tiles flow to the left or right and the center Tile will always get highlighted.

• You can click on a Tile to select it. The Tile gets highlighted and moves to the center of the Tile Flow.

• As the selected Tile is always the center Tile, the following happens −

  • Selected Tile does not go out of view.

  • When you scroll to the left or right, the Tile that comes to the center position will get automatically selected and highlighted.

  • The previous selection disappears.

  • The Table will be automatically updated to the values corresponding to the Tile in the center of the Tile Flow.

Convert the Tile Type to Tab Strip.

Matrix Tiles Visualization

Suppose you want the Medal Count by medal type – Gold, Silver and Bronze and also the total Medal Count, by Country for a selected Sport. You can display the results in a Matrix Tiles visualization.

• Click on the Table.
• Switch visualization to Matrix.
• Add the field Medal to Matrix.
• Click the Tile – Soft Ball.

You will get the desired results as follows −

Card Tiles Visualization

You can have a Card Tiles visualization to display specific data.

• Click on the Matrix.

• Switch visualization to Card.

• Filter the Card visualization to display data with Medal Count greater than or equal to 100

• Add the field SportImage from the SportPics table to Matrix.

• Click on the Tile – Swimming.

You will observe the following −

• The Tab Strip was filtered to display only those Tiles with Medal Count greater than or equal to 100.

• The image corresponding to the selected Tile also appears on the Card.

Stacked Bar Chart Tiles Visualization

You can make your explored results more conspicuous by switching your visualization to Stacked Bar Chart Tiles visualization −

• Click on the Card visualization.
• Clear the filter.
• Remove the field SportImage from Card.
• Switch visualization to Stacked Bar Chart.
• Click on the Tile – Ski Jumping.

Map Tiles Visualization

As your data contains geographic locations, you can also switch to Map Tiles visualization −

• Click on the Stacked Bar Chart.
• Switch visualization to Map.

Combination of Power View Tiles Visualizations

You can have a combination of visualizations on Power View with the same Tile Navigation Strip.

• Add a Table with fields – Country, Medal and Medal Count.

• Add a Table with fields – Country, Gender and Medal Count. Convert it to Stacked Bar Chart.

• Click on the Tile – Soft Ball.

• Resize Map, Table and Bar Chart for a conspicuous display.

You will get the three visualizations filtered to the Tile (Sport) – Soft Ball.

Exploring Data with Tiles Visualizations

To explore data with Tiles Visualization, proceed as follows −

• Click on the Bar USA in the Stacked Bar Chart.
• Pan and zoom Map.
• Place cursor on the Pie Chart – USA.

You will observe the following −

• The selected Bar in the Bar Chart is highlighted.
• The Table is filtered to the corresponding values.
• The Pie Chart for USA is highlighted and others are grayed out.
• The data values of the Pie Chart for USA are highlighted.

This is the power of Power View visualizations as you can display the required results on the fly during a presentation.