Visualizations

Charts, tables, maps, and KPI cards — turn query results into visual insights.

What Are Visualizations?

Visualizations are the presentation layer of Bosca Analytics. They take the results from a query and render them as a chart, table, map, or other visual format. Each visualization is linked to a query and defines how to display the data that query returns.

Visualizations are the building blocks of dashboards. You create visualizations independently, then place them on one or more dashboards. The same visualization can appear on multiple dashboards with different configuration overrides — for example, the same line chart filtered to different applications or date ranges.

Visualization Types

Bosca Analytics supports eleven visualization types, each designed for a different kind of insight. Choose the type that best matches the story your data tells.

Number

Displays a single numeric value as a prominent KPI card. Use this for headline metrics that need to stand out — total users, conversion rate, revenue, error count. Number visualizations can include a comparison to a previous period to show whether the metric is trending up or down.

Bar Chart

Compares values across categories using horizontal or vertical bars. Bar charts are ideal for answering "which is biggest?" questions — top pages by traffic, errors by application, users by country. Supports grouped and stacked variants for comparing multiple series side by side or showing how parts contribute to a total.

Line Chart

Tracks trends over time with connected data points. Line charts are the go-to choice for time series data — daily active users, weekly error rates, monthly revenue. Supports multiple series on the same chart and optional area fills for emphasizing volume.

Pie Chart

Shows proportions of a whole as slices of a circle. Use pie charts when you want to show how a total breaks down into categories — traffic by browser, users by plan tier, errors by type. Works best with a small number of categories (under eight) where the relative sizes matter.

Doughnut Chart

A variation of the pie chart with a hollow center. The center space can display a summary label or total value, making doughnut charts slightly more information-dense than standard pie charts. Use the same way you would use a pie chart.

Bubble Chart

Explores three dimensions of data simultaneously. Each bubble is positioned by its X and Y values, and the bubble size represents a third dimension. Useful for comparing items across multiple measures at once — for example, pages plotted by traffic (X) and error rate (Y) with bubble size representing average load time.

Scatter Plot

Reveals correlations between two numeric variables. Each data point is plotted by its X and Y values. Use scatter plots to find relationships — does session duration correlate with pages viewed? Do higher-traffic pages have more errors?

Table

Displays query results as a detailed data grid with sortable columns. Tables are the most flexible visualization type — they work with any query and show the full detail of the data. Use tables when users need to scan, sort, and explore individual records rather than see a visual summary.

Label

Displays static text on a dashboard. Labels do not connect to a query — they serve as section headers, descriptions, instructions, or annotations that help users understand the dashboard's layout and purpose.

Date Picker

An interactive date selection control for dashboards. The date picker does not display query data. Instead, it feeds its selected value into the dashboard's shared parameters, acting as a filter control. Place a date picker at the top of a dashboard so users can change the date range for all visualizations at once.

Map

Displays geographic data on a map using TopoJSON boundaries. Use maps to visualize regional data — users by country, error rates by state, revenue by territory. The map colors regions based on the query data, creating a choropleth visualization that makes geographic patterns immediately visible.

Not sure which visualization type to use? Start with a Table to explore your data, then switch to a chart type once you know what story the data tells. Numbers for KPIs, lines for trends, bars for comparisons, and pie or doughnut for proportions.

How Visualizations Connect to Queries

Most visualization types require a linked query. When a visualization is displayed — whether standalone or on a dashboard — it executes its linked query with the current parameter values and renders the results. The query determines what data is shown; the visualization determines how it looks.

Two visualization types do not use queries:

Label — Displays static text; no data needed
Date Picker — Acts as an interactive control; produces parameter values rather than consuming query results

Dashboard Instances and Configuration Overrides

When you place a visualization on a dashboard, it becomes a dashboard instance. Each instance can carry its own configuration that overrides specific settings from the base visualization. This lets you reuse the same visualization across dashboards with different presentations:

Parameter bindings — Connect the visualization's query parameters to the dashboard's shared filters so everything updates together
Color schemes — Match the chart colors to a dashboard's theme
Axis labels and ranges — Customize for a specific audience or context
Grid positioning — Control where and how large the visualization appears in the dashboard layout

Override configurations merge with the base visualization's settings. You only need to specify the properties you want to change — everything else comes from the original visualization definition.

Permissions

Visualizations have their own permissions, separate from the dashboards they appear on and the queries they execute. To see data in a visualization, a user needs access to three things:

The dashboard (to see the dashboard at all)
The visualization (to see this specific chart)
The query (to access the underlying data)

This layered model gives you precise control over who sees what data, even within a shared dashboard.