Bullet Charts in Julia

Basic Bullet Charts

Stephen Few's Bullet Chart was invented to replace dashboard gauges and meters, combining both types of charts into simple bar charts with qualitative bars (steps), quantitative bar (bar) and performance line (threshold); all into one simple layout. Steps typically are broken into several values, which are defined with an array. The bar represent the actual value that a particular variable reached, and the threshold usually indicate a goal point relative to the value achieved by the bar. See indicator page for more detail.

using PlotlyJS
plot(indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta",
    gauge_shape="bullet",
    value=220,
    delta_reference=300,
    domain_x=[0,1],
    domain_y=[0,1],
    title_text="Profit"
), Layout(height=250))

Add Steps, and Threshold

Below is the same example using "steps" attribute, which is shown as shading, and "threshold" to determine boundaries that visually alert you if the value cross a defined threshold.

using PlotlyJS

plot(indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta",
    value=220,
    domain_x=[0.1, 1],
    domain_y=[0, 1],
    title_text="<b>Profit</b>",
    delta_reference=200,
    gauge=attr(
        shape="bullet",
        axis_range=[nothing, 300],
        threshold=attr(
            line=attr(color="red", width=2),
            thickness=0.75,
            value=280
        ),
        steps=[
            attr(range=[0, 150], color="lightgray"),
            attr(range=[150, 250], color="gray")
        ]
    )
), Layout(height=250))

Custom Bullet

The following example shows how to customize your charts. For more information about all possible options check our reference page.

using PlotlyJS

plot(indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta",
    value=220,
    domain=attr(x=[0, 1], y=[0, 1]),
    delta=attr(reference=280, position="top"),
    title=attr(text="<b>Profit</b><br><span style=\'color: gray; font-size:0.8em\'>U.S. \$</span>", font_size=14),
    gauge=attr(
        shape="bullet",
        axis=attr(range=[nothing, 300]),
        threshold=attr(
            line=attr(color="red", width=2),
            thickness=0.75,
            value=270,
        ),
        bgcolor="white",
        steps=[
            attr(range=[0, 150], color="cyan"),
            attr(range=[150, 250], color="royalblue")
        ],
        bar_color="darkblue"
    )
), Layout(height=250))

Multi Bullet

Bullet charts can be stacked for comparing several values at once as illustrated below:

trace1 = indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta", value=180,
    delta=attr(reference=200),
    domain=attr(x=[0.25, 1], y=[0.08, 0.25]),
    title=attr(text="Revenue"),
    gauge=attr(
        shape="bullet",
        axis=attr(range=[nothing, 300]),
        threshold=attr(
            line=attr(color="black", width=2),
            thickness=0.75,
            value=170
        ),
        steps=[
            attr(range=[0, 150], color="gray"),
            attr(range=[150, 250], color="lightgray")
        ],
        bar=attr(color="black")
    )
)

trace2 = indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta", value=35,
    delta=attr(reference=200),
    domain=attr(x=[0.25, 1], y=[0.4, 0.6]),
    title=attr(text="Profit"),
    gauge=attr(
        shape="bullet",
        axis=attr(range=[nothing, 100]),
        threshold=attr(
            line=attr(color="black", width=2),
            thickness=0.75,
            value=50
        ),
        steps=[
            attr(range=[0, 25], color="gray"),
            attr(range=[25, 75], color="lightgray")
        ],
        bar=attr(color="black")
    )
)

trace3 = indicator(
    mode="number+gauge+delta", value=220,
    delta=attr(reference=200),
    domain=attr(x=[0.25, 1], y=[0.7, 0.9]),
    title=attr(text="Satisfaction"),
    gauge=attr(
        shape="bullet",
        axis=attr(range=[nothing, 300]),
        threshold=attr(
            line=attr(color="black", width=2),
            thickness=0.75,
            value=210
        ),
        steps=[
            attr(range=[0, 150], color="gray"),
            attr(range=[150, 250], color="lightgray")
        ],
        bar=attr(color="black")
    )
)

layout = Layout(height=400, margin=attr(t=0, b=0, l=0))

plot([trace1, trace2, trace3], layout)

Reference

See https://plotly.com/julia/reference/indicator/ for more information and chart attribute options!