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Dimensions

In Akuko, Dimensions are the building blocks of your data, allowing you to organize and analyze information effectively. Dimensions represent the various attributes or fields in your data, such as time, location, categories, or any other data point you want to explore in your data stories.

Overview of Dimensions​

Dimensions play a crucial role in transforming your raw data into insightful visualizations and stories. By defining dimensions, you provide context and meaning to your data, making it more accessible to your audience. A dimension's type — text, number or date/time — is what decides how it can be grouped, filtered and charted.

Creating Dimensions​

Creating dimensions in Akuko is a straightforward process:

  1. Access Your Source: Start by logging in to your Akuko account and navigating to the "Sources" section.

  2. Select Your Source: Choose the Source where you want to create dimensions.

  3. Navigate to Dimensions: Inside your Source settings, find the "Dimensions" section.

  4. Add Dimension: Click the Add dimension button at the bottom of the Dimensions panel.

  5. Define the Dimension:

    • Dimension Value: the dimension's name as used in queries, for example dimension_value. It must begin with a letter and cannot contain spaces — use underscores instead.
    • Label: the display label shown to viewers.
    • Type: the picker offers string, number and time.
    • SQL: the expression that produces the value, for example ${column_name}.
    • Format, Prefix, Suffix: optional display formatting.
note

A database source can produce types the picker does not offer. When Akuko reads a schema from PostgreSQL, MySQL or ClickHouse, it assigns each column a type automatically, and two of those are not in the picker:

  • boolean — from a true/false column
  • geo — from a geometry column

They are real and they appear in the source's schema, but you cannot choose them by hand, and a boolean dimension renders without a type in the editor. If a dimension looks typeless, this is usually why.

Sources built from OnaData forms never show this: that path deliberately converts boolean to string, so the values read as "true"/"false" categories instead.

Separately, there is no Spatial option. Putting a map on a post is not a matter of dimension type — it is configured under Geometries.

  1. Save: Click Save to save your new dimension.

Editing Dimensions​

Each dimension in the list is itself an editor. The row carries the dimension's name, its Label and its Type; change either of the last two and a small tick button appears at the end of the row to save it. A dimension's name is fixed once it exists — only new dimensions have an editable name.

note

Changing the Type between text and number changes your measures. Switching a dimension from string to number generates the usual set of measures for it; switching from number back to string or time removes the ones Akuko generated. Measures you wrote yourself are left alone.

Expand a dimension to reach the rest of its settings:

  • Labels: one input per language the Source has, with the current display language ticked. This is where a dimension gets its name in each language; the label shown throughout Akuko follows the Source's Display language. Choose Save labels to apply them.

  • Option labels: for a dimension with a fixed set of answers, the label each answer carries in the current language. It is read-only — the values come from the form the Source was built from.

  • Primary key: marks this dimension as the column that identifies a row uniquely. This is what a join between two Sources matches on. Ticking it also keeps the dimension visible in components, which it would otherwise stop being.

  • SQL: the expression that produces the value, for example ${column_name}.

  • Format, Prefix, Suffix: optional display formatting.

Choose Save to apply the changes in this section.

Deleting Dimensions​

To remove dimensions that are no longer needed:

  1. Access Your Source: Navigate to the "Sources" section and select your Source.

  2. Navigate to Dimensions: Inside your Source settings, find the "Dimensions" section.

  3. Delete Dimension: Locate the dimension you want to delete and choose the bin icon on its row.

caution

There is no confirmation step. The dimension is removed as soon as you choose the bin icon, and the deletion cannot be undone. Check what is using the dimension first — Posts built on this Source refer to it by name.

Using Dimensions in Components​

Dimensions are used to enrich your data stories by adding context to your components. You can use dimensions in various components, such as Charts, Tables, Maps, and more. When you add dimensions to components, you enable dynamic data exploration and visualization.

Best Practices​

  • Meaningful Names: Use descriptive names for dimensions to make your data more understandable.

  • Consistent Data Types: Ensure that the data type of your dimension aligns with the type of data it represents.

  • Calculated Dimensions: Leverage calculated dimensions when you need to derive new insights from your data.

  • Regular Maintenance: Periodically review and update your dimensions to keep them aligned with changing data needs.

  • Data Consistency: Maintain consistency in how dimensions are represented across different data sources and components.

By mastering the use of dimensions in Akuko, you can transform raw data into compelling data stories that engage and inform your audience.