Fundamentals of creating graphs in 3D

You can create graphs in ArcGIS Desktop applications to visualize and explore data. Graphs assist you in presenting information about map features and the relationship between them in a visual, easy-to-understand manner. Graphs may also be created for nonspatial tabular data and can show both additional information about the features on the map or the same information in a different way. Graphs are complementary to maps in that they simply and visually convey information that would generally be summarized numerically or explored from tables. With a graph, it is easy to quickly compare features to gain insight into the functional relationship between the features and thereby visualize the distribution, trends, and patterns in the data that otherwise would be difficult to see.

In ArcGlobe or ArcScene, you can create graphs from a variety of supported graph types. The graph you want to create depends on your data and how you want to present it. Once you have created the graph, it is displayed as a floating window in your session. You can query and interact with the graph to gain more information about your data.

To improve or change the visual appearance of your graph, you can choose to modify the properties of a graph. You can also manage and organize the graphs in your session using Graph Manager.

The graph can be saved with the document or you can choose to export the graph to one of the supported image, vector, or data formats.