How to Create a Gauge Chart in Tableau

Creating a gauge chart in Tableau allows you to visualize a single metric's performance against a target, much like a speedometer in a car. This article will walk you through a step-by-step process to build your own custom gauge chart from scratch, using a clever combination of pie charts and calculated fields.

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What Exactly is a Gauge Chart?

A gauge chart (also known as a dial chart or speedometer chart) is a visualization that uses a radial arc to show how a specific data point measures up against a goal. The "needle" on the gauge points to the current value, giving you an immediate visual cue about whether you're on track, falling short, or exceeding expectations. They are excellent for displaying a single, critical Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

When should you use a gauge chart?

Gauge charts are most effective when you need to convey a performance status "at a glance." Think about executive dashboards where leaders want quick, clear answers without getting lost in complex graphs. Here are a few ideal use cases:

• Sales Performance: Tracking monthly sales revenue against a quarterly target.
• Project Management: Displaying the percentage of tasks completed for a project.
• Customer Support: Showing customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores against a benchmark.
• Website Performance: Visualizing the conversion rate compared to the target conversion rate for the month.

While some data visualization purists argue that gauge charts can take up significant dashboard real estate for a single data point, they remain incredibly popular for their intuitive and familiar design.

Why There's No "Gauge Chart" Button in Tableau

You might have noticed that Tableau doesn't offer a ready-made gauge chart option in its "Show Me" panel. This is intentional. Tableau's philosophy encourages using visualizations that are efficient with space and enable deep comparison, like bar charts or bullet graphs (which are often a better alternative for comparing a metric against a goal).

However, that doesn't mean it's impossible. With a bit of creativity and some basic calculations, you can build a fully functional and visually appealing gauge chart. The process involves creating two primary components and layering them:

1. The Background Arc: This is the semi-circle that represents the scale from 0% to 100%. We'll create this using a pie chart.
2. The Needle: This is the pointer that indicates the actual KPI value. We will construct this using trigonometric calculations to place it correctly on the arc.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Gauge Chart in Tableau

Let's build a gauge chart to track sales performance. Imagine we have a sales target of $500,000 for the quarter, and current sales are at $375,000. Here’s how to build it.

Step 1: Preparing Your Data

Your data source can be simple. All you really need is your actual value and your target value. You could even create these as parameters directly in Tableau, but for this example, let's assume you have a data source connected with the fields Actual Sales and Target Sales.

Step 2: Create the Necessary Calculated Fields

The magic of the Tableau gauge chart lies in its calculated fields. This is an essential step where we define the logic for the gauge's scale, sections, and needle position. Navigate to the Data Pane, click the dropdown arrow, and select "Create Calculated Field" for each of the following.

1. PercentageValue

This calculates the progress toward the goal. This value will be what drives the needle's position.

SUM([Actual Sales]) / SUM([Target Sales])

2. Gauge BG (Max)

This will be a fixed value for the background section of our pie chart (the gray area that nothing has happened toward your goal).

(1 - [PercentageValue]) / 2

3. Gauge BG (Min)

Another fixed value to fill out the pie slices, representing the area from zero up to the current progress point on the gauge.

[PercentageValue] / 2

4. Half Circle

This will be used to make sure those three background pieces of the pie chart are always inside just 180 degrees of the circle.

0.5

5. Pointer X

Here’s where we use a little trigonometry to get the X-Axis of the needle so we have the positioning on that end figured out.

IF [PercentageValue] > 0.5 THEN
    COS(RADIANS(180 * ((2 - [PercentageValue]) * 2))) * -1
ELSE
    COS(RADIANS(180 - (180 * ([PercentageValue] * 2)))) * -1
END

6. Pointer Y

And now, the Y-Axis positioning…

IF [PercentageValue] > 0.5 THEN
    SIN(RADIANS(90 - ((180 - ((180 * ([PercentageValue] * 2))) ) / 2))) * -1
ELSE
    SIN(RADIANS(180 - (180 * ([PercentageValue] * 2))))
END

7. Blank

An empty field with the string "Don't show" as a blank label

'Don't show'

With these fields ready, now the rest of this is as simple (but also complicated) as any other data visualization creation in Tableau…

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Step 3: Build the Gauge Background Arc

Okay, it's not a race to the most calculations to win. Let’s start putting these together.

1. Drag Measure Values onto Columns and Measure Names onto Rows.
2. Take Measure Names off of rows, and drag it to Detail, Label, and onto filter.
3. Select to show the marks from the dropdown and select chart type Pie.
4. Drag Measure Names to Color and Measure Values to Angle.

At this point, you see nothing. We need to go in and set the proper measures for this visualization. First, drag onto Measure Values the pieces we will begin with for Measure Values: Half Circle, Gauge BG (Max), Gauge BG (Min). Once done, this starts the building point of the dashboard.

Now, let’s begin formatting the dashboard. Right-click on Gauge BG Min on colors and change the color to blue, and for Gauge BG Max change the color to gray. Finally, right-click on Half-Circle and 'hide' it. The formatting of the base of this chart is to set Gauge BG Min as your key color, and Gauge BG Max as the area to be colored for the remaining part to reach your goal.

You can hide anything we aren’t using by right-clicking Blank from the Measure Names section filter, select only those three being used, and now click on the text labels and delete them as they are unnecessary.

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Step 4: Create and Position the Needle

The arc looks good, but now we need the pointer. So duplicate the worksheet your pie is on as we are going to use this base for the pointer, and label the duplicate, Pointer. In that new sheet, remove Measure Values from angle and drag PercentageValue onto the rows (this might default as the sum, change it by right-clicking AGG).

1. Drag the sheet for Don’t show from Dimensions. Drag it out onto Filters, and type in ‘dont show,’ and uncheck Exclude.
2. On the two pills for Measure values, remove all items and add.
3. Drag X coordinate for Pointer onto Columns, and Y onto Rows.
4. Take PercentageValue (the calculated one in the measure pane) and throw into the rows pill container and leave Y. After that, change the graph from automatic to a shape that you have designated for a gauged dot, or an existing dot from Tableau.
5. Right-click the axis to edit: Fixed, with fixed start -1, fixed end 1.

Step 5: Layer the Arc and Needle with a dual-access dashboard

Now you have two separate beautiful charts—the last magic ingredient needed for your presentation this quarter is to combine these correctly:

1. Open a new Dashboard, then drop both Sheets onto your blank dashboard sheet.
2. Make sure to size appropriately for a viewable section.
3. Hide ALL titles from both.
4. Check the object box, choose from either tiled or floating, but select floating. This is key to laying correctly.
5. Drag them over and lay the Pointer dot where it should sit in the gauge you have created!

Final Thoughts

Creating a readable gauge visual from Tableau is something most people are unaware of, especially how quickly this can be turned out once you have the process down. This makes it an incredibly powerful and simple representation of a piece of your entire dashboard business presentation. The dual-axis gives this a unique approach and style, something not commonly shown and a cool tidbit.

Of course, while building custom charts in Tableau is a rewarding skill, it can be time-consuming, sometimes you need fast answers and clear performance dashboards without wrestling with formulas. We created Graphed to simplify precisely that part of the process. Rather than building multi-step calculated fields and hacking together charts, you can simply describe the KPI dashboard you want using plain English. Graphed connects to your data sources and instantly builds the real-time visualizations you need, letting you monitor your goals in seconds, not hours.