Bar min and max graph

Bar min and max graphs are used to display the minimum and maximum values associated with your geographic data. For example, you can display the minimum and maximum streamflow discharge values at different gauging stations at a particular point in time along a stream or river. Like a bar graph, the bar min and max graph is used to display discrete data in separate columns except that the columns are not "grounded" on the x-axis but rather start at the minimum value and end at the maximum value. Bar min and max graphs compare amounts to each other but add the ability to visualize the minimum and maximum values of the series.

1. Click the View menu, point to Graphs, then click Create Graph .
2. Click the Graph type drop-down arrow and choose Bar Min and Max.

   The procedure for creating a bar min and max graph is similar to vertical or horizontal bar graphs. The main difference is that, for the bar min and max graph, you specify a maximum and minimum field.

3. Click the Layer/Table drop-down arrow and choose the layer or table containing the data values that are to be graphed.
4. Click the Max field drop-down arrow and choose the data field to graph as the maximum value.
5. Click the Min field drop-down arrow and choose the data field to graph as the minimum value.
6. The bars of the graph are initially in the order of the data values in the source table. The X field parameter allows you to change the order of the bars based on another field.
7. X label field lets you specify a different field to label the bars in the graph, commonly a text (string) field.
8. The Vertical axis and Horizontal axis drop-down lists allow setting properties of the label axes.
9. By default, the values of the input data are added to the legend of the graph. You can disable this by unchecking the Add to legend check box.
10. Click the Show labels (marks) check box to see the bars in the graph labeled with their actual values. This is useful when there are bars of similar values and the small difference in bar height may not be easily seen.
11. You can change the appearance of the bars in the graph with the Color and Bar style controls.

    Note:

    There are 13 bar styles to choose from; however, you might want to exercise some caution when choosing a style other than the default rectangle style. Styles such as pyramid, inverted arrow, or bevel can be distracting and make it difficult to interpret the information presented in the graph. The term "chart junk" is often associated with distracting or difficult-to-interpret styles used on graphs.

    Tufte, E. R., The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Graphics Press: Cheshire, Connecticut, 1983.

12. If you have more than one series, click the Multiple bar type control to change how the bars for those series are displayed together. The bars for different series can be displayed in several ways, side by side or stacked on top of each other.
13. Use the Bar size (%) control to make the bars wider or narrower.
14. Click Show border to draw a perimeter box around each bar in the graph.
15. The general properties of the graph are set on the second page of the wizard. Click the Next button to proceed to this page.