Comet Chart

Inspired by Zan Armstrong’s comet chart this plot uses mark_trail to visualize change of grouped data over time. A more elaborate example and explanation of creating comet charts in Altair is shown in this blogpost.

Method syntax

import altair as alt
import vega_datasets

alt.Chart(
    vega_datasets.data.barley.url,
    title='Barley Yield comparison between 1932 and 1931'
).mark_trail().encode(
    alt.X('year:O').title(None),
    alt.Y('variety:N').title('Variety'),
    alt.Size('yield:Q')
        .scale(range=[0, 12])
        .legend(values=[20, 60])
        .title('Barley Yield (bushels/acre)'),
    alt.Color('delta:Q')
        .scale(domainMid=0)
        .title('Yield Delta (%)'),
    alt.Tooltip(['year:O', 'yield:Q']),
    alt.Column('site:N').title('Site')
).transform_pivot(
    "year",
    value="yield",
    groupby=["variety", "site"]
).transform_fold(
    ["1931", "1932"],
    as_=["year", "yield"]
).transform_calculate(
    calculate="datum['1932'] - datum['1931']",
    as_="delta"
).configure_legend(
    orient='bottom',
    direction='horizontal'
).configure_view(
    stroke=None
)

Attribute syntax

import altair as alt
import vega_datasets

(
    alt.Chart(vega_datasets.data.barley.url)
    .transform_pivot("year", value="yield", groupby=["variety", "site"])
    .transform_fold(["1931", "1932"], as_=["year", "yield"])
    .transform_calculate(calculate="datum['1932'] - datum['1931']", as_="delta")
    .mark_trail()
    .encode(
        x=alt.X('year:O', title=None),
        y=alt.Y('variety:N', title='Variety'),
        size=alt.Size('yield:Q', scale=alt.Scale(range=[0, 12]), legend=alt.Legend(values=[20, 60], title='Barley Yield (bushels/acre)')),
        color=alt.Color('delta:Q', scale=alt.Scale(domainMid=0), legend=alt.Legend(title='Yield Delta (%)')),
        tooltip=alt.Tooltip(['year:O', 'yield:Q']),
        column=alt.Column('site:N', title='Site')

    )
    .configure_view(stroke=None)
    .configure_legend(orient='bottom', direction='horizontal')
    .properties(title='Barley Yield comparison between 1932 and 1931')
)