Text over a Heatmap#

An example of a layered chart of text over a heatmap using the cars dataset.

import altair as alt
from vega_datasets import data

source = data.cars()

# Configure common options
base = alt.Chart(source).transform_aggregate(
    num_cars='count()',
    groupby=['Origin', 'Cylinders']
).encode(
    alt.X('Cylinders:O', scale=alt.Scale(paddingInner=0)),
    alt.Y('Origin:O', scale=alt.Scale(paddingInner=0)),
)

# Configure heatmap
heatmap = base.mark_rect().encode(
    color=alt.Color('num_cars:Q',
        scale=alt.Scale(scheme='viridis'),
        legend=alt.Legend(direction='horizontal')
    )
)

# Configure text
text = base.mark_text(baseline='middle').encode(
    text='num_cars:Q',
    color=alt.condition(
        alt.datum.num_cars > 100,
        alt.value('black'),
        alt.value('white')
    )
)

# Draw the chart
heatmap + text