Adding a heatmap visualization

Heatmaps use colors to represent the individual values that are contained in a matrix.

Similar to treemaps, you can use heatmaps to identify patterns and exceptions. Unlike treemaps, the sizes of the rectangles are not proportionate to values.

Figure 1. A heatmap visualization

Before you begin

Your administrator must make the visualizations available in the Visualization Gallery.

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer to view visualizations, you must have Microsoft Silverlight 5 installed on your computer. Firefox or iPad users do not need Silverlight.

About this task

You add data to a visualization by inserting data items in drop zones.

When you add a visualization to an IBM® Cognos® Active Report, you can choose to render visualizations on the IBM Cognos server or on the client. When you choose to render visualizations on the client, additional drop zones appear for extra categories or values when all the required drop zones contain data items. You can use extra categories and extra values to filter data or set variables. Extra items are not visible in the visualization.

When working with dimensional data sources, if the visualization does not contain a measure against which to plot data, you must provide one. For example, if you add a single member to the values drop zone, such as '2012', the default measure drop zone appears in which you must insert a measure.

Attention: The supported properties for a visualization are determined by the visualization definition.

Procedure

From the Toolbox tab , drag a Visualization icon to the work area.
From the Visualization Gallery, select the Heatmap icon and click OK.
From the Source tab , drag items to the appropriate location in the data container:
1. Under Values, drag a measure or a single value to define the color shading of the rectangles.
2. Under Categories, drag items to the Y Category and X Category.
  Tip: Ensure that the items in the Y Category and X Category come from different dimensions.