Dashboards That Pop: Undercover Tables

[JenniferAcunto]

Lists are probably my favorite ArcGIS Dashboard element because they are so versatile. However, Tables are quickly rising to the number two spot. To explore their versatility, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite non-table uses for Tables.  

Interactive Legends 

This trick won’t work in all situations, but if your dashboard map has a single layer visualized by unique categories you can use a Table element with some Advanced Formatting and custom icons to create a faux legend that can filter your map.  

It's a legend, it's a table, IT'S LEGENDABLE?

Here are some custom SVGs that can be used to represent points, lines, and polygons:

Point

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="32" width="32"><path d="M16 21c-2.757 0-5-2.243-5-5s2.243-5 5-5 5 2.243 5 5-2.243 5-5 5z"></path></svg>

 Line

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="32" width="32"><path d="M31 17H1v-2h30z"></path></svg>

Polygon

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="32" width="32"><path d="M14 15L3 7v22h26V3zm14 13H4V8.964l10.03 7.294L28 5.08z"></path><path d="M14.029 16.258L28 5.081V28H4V8.964l10.029 7.294z" opacity=".25"></path></svg>

Filter Buttons 

A little HTML in the Advanced Formatting section gives my Grouped values table a button feel.  

Table element "buttons"

Here's how I implemented my HTML in the Advanced Formatting section:

var owner = $datapoint.PRIMARY_OWNER_TYPE

var html = Concatenate('<div style="background-color: #beb9db4d; border: 2px solid #beb9db; border-radius: 25px; padding: 5px;"><p><strong>' + owner + '</strong></p></div>')


return {
  cells: {
    PRIMARY_OWNER_TYPE: {
      displayText : html,
      textColor: '#ff',
      backgroundColor: '',
      textAlign: 'center',
      iconName: '',
      iconAlign: '',
      iconColor: '',
      iconOutlineColor: ''
    }
  }
}

Unique Lists 

I’ve already covered this in a dedicated post Dashboards That Pop: Unique Lists so I won’t really get into it here, but I did want to call it out because it is another great table alternative use. 

Table element with a simplified list look.

Multi-Indicators

Table elements can aggregate features (Grouped values), making them an excellent alternative to the multi-indicator approach. When you have a lot of Indicators, it can take up a lot of real estate on your dashboard. It can also be challenging to evenly place/group them if you have weird amounts.  

As a viewer, too many can be overwhelming. Indicators are pretty in your face. They are designed to quickly draw your attention to a key metric. This works well when you have a few, but when you have 30 of them, it is hard to focus and know where to look.  

Overwhelming amount of Indicators

Table elements can alleviate a lot of those problems. You can easily introduce a visual hierarchy and handle odd amounts while still displaying the same information. Plus, it is so much faster and easier to create a few Table elements than making 30 individual Indicator elements. An added bonus is that it also takes up less space, allowing you to do more with your dashboard.  

Series of Tables approach

While these (not so undercover) Table elements are not fooling anyone, I do think it is an alternative approach that is worth mentioning.  

Check out the rest of my Dashboards That Pop series for more tips and tricks. 

Happy Dashboarding!