---
title: Get started visualizing data
description: Get started visualizing data in InfluxDB Cloud by using the InfluxDB user interface (UI) to create a simple dashboard.
url: https://docs.influxdata.com/influxdb/cloud/get-started/visualize/
estimated_tokens: 3571
product: InfluxDB Cloud (TSM)
version: cloud
---

# Get started visualizing data

-   5 / 5

There are many tools you can use to visualize your time series data including the InfluxDB user interface (UI), [Chronograf](/influxdb/cloud/tools/chronograf/), and [Grafana](/influxdb/cloud/tools/grafana/). This tutorial walks you through using the **InfluxDB UI** to create a simple dashboard.

Dashboards are a powerful way of displaying time series data and can help to identify trends and anomalies. A dashboard is comprised of one or more dashboard cells. A **dashboard cell** visualizes the results of a query using one of the available [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/).

-   [Create a dashboard](#create-a-dashboard)
-   [Create dashboard cells](#create-dashboard-cells)
-   [Create and use dashboard variables](#create-and-use-dashboard-variables)
    -   [Create a custom dashboard variable](#create-a-custom-dashboard-variable)
    -   [Use a custom dashboard variable](#use-a-custom-dashboard-variable)

## Create a dashboard

1. With InfluxDB running, visit [localhost:8086](http://localhost:8086) in your browser to access the InfluxDB UI.
    
2. Log in and select **Dashboards** in the left navigation bar.
    
    Dashboards
    
3. Click **\+ Create Dashboard** and select **New Dashboard**.
    
4. Click ***Name this Dashboard*** and provide a name for the dashboard. For this tutorial, we’ll use **“Getting Started Dashboard”**.
    

## Create dashboard cells

With your new dashboard created and named, add a new dashboard cell:

1. Click **Add Cell**.
    
2. Click ***Name this Cell*** and provide a name for the cell. For this tutorial, we’ll use **“Room temperature”**.
    
3. *(Optional)* Select the visualization type from the visualization drop-down menu. There are many different [visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/) available. For this tutorial, use the default **Graph** visualization.
    
4. Use the query time range selector to select an absolute time range that covers includes the time range of the [data written in “Get started writing to InfluxDB”](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/write/#view-the-written-data): **2022-01-01T08:00:00Z** to **2022-01-01T20:00:01Z**.
    
    1. The query time range selector defaults to querying data from the last hour ( **Past 1h**). Click the time range selector drop-down menu and select **Custom Time Range**.
        
        [](#view-time-range-selector)
        
        View time range selector
        
        ![InfluxDB time range selector](/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-time-range.png)
        
    2. Use the date picker to select the stop and stop date and time or manually enter the following start and stop times:
        
        -   **Start**: 2022-01-01 08:00:00
        -   **Stop**: 2022-01-01 20:00:01
    3. Click **Apply Time Range**.
        
5. Use the **Query Builder** to select the measurement, fields, and tags to query:
    
    1. In the **From** column, select the **get-started** bucket.
    2. In the **Filter** column, select the **home** measurement.
    3. In the next **Filter** column, select the **temp** field.
    4. In the next **Filter** column, select the **room** tag and the **Kitchen** tag value.
6. Click **Submit** to run the query and visualize the results.
    
    ![InfluxDB Query Builder](/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-query-builder.png)
7. Click to save the cell and return to the dashboard.
    

## Create and use dashboard variables

InfluxDB dashboard cells use **dashboard variables** to dynamically change specific parts of cell queries. The query builder automatically builds queries using the following [predefined dashboard variables](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/#predefined-dashboard-variables), each controlled by selections in your dashboard:

-   `v.timeRangeStart`: Start time of the queried time range specified by the time range selector.
-   `v.timeRangeStop`: Stop time of the queried time range specified by the time range selector.
-   `v.windowPeriod`: Window period used downsample data to one point per pixel in a cell visualization. The value of this variable is determined by the pixel-width of the cell.

### Create a custom dashboard variable

Let’s create a custom dashboard variable that we can use to change the field displayed by your dashboard cell.

1. Select **Settings > Variables** in the left navigation bar.
    
    Settings
    
2. Click **\+ Create Variable** and select **New Variable**.
    
3. Name your variable. For this tutorial, name the variable, **“room”**.
    
4. Select the default **Query** dashboard variable type. This variable type uses the results of a query to populate the list of potential variable values. *For information about the other dashboard variable types, see [Variable types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/variable-types/).*
    
5. Enter the following Flux query to return all the different `room` tag values in your `get-started` bucket from the [Unix epoch](/influxdb/cloud/reference/glossary/#unix-timestamp).
    
    ```js
    import "influxdata/influxdb/schema"
    
    schema.tagValues(bucket: "get-started", tag: "room", start: time(v: 0))
    ```
    
6. Click **Create Variable**.
    

### Use a custom dashboard variable

1. Navigate to your **Getting Started Dashboard** by clicking **Dashboards** in the left navigation bar and the clicking on the name of your dashboard.
    
    Dashboards
    
2. Click the on the **Room temperature** cell and select **Configure**.
    
3. Click **Script Editor** to edit the Flux query directly.
    
4. On line 5 of the Flux query, replace `"Kitchen"` with `v.room` to use the selected value of the `room` dashboard variable.
    
    ```js
    from(bucket: "get-started")
      |> range(start: v.timeRangeStart, stop: v.timeRangeStop)
      |> filter(fn: (r) => r["_measurement"] == "home")
      |> filter(fn: (r) => r["_field"] == "temp")
      |> filter(fn: (r) => r["room"] == v.room)
      |> aggregateWindow(every: v.windowPeriod, fn: mean, createEmpty: false)
      |> yield(name: "mean")
    ```
    
5. Click to save the cell and return to the dashboard.
    
6. Refresh the browser to reload the dashboard.
    
7. Use the **room variable** drop-down menu to select the room to display recorded temperatures from.
    
    ![InfluxDB dashboard variable selection](/img/influxdb/2-4-get-started-visualize-variable-select.png)

*For more information about creating custom dashboard variables, see [Use and manage dashboard variables](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/variables/).*

[Process data](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/process/)

## Congratulations!

You have walked through the [basics of setting up, writing, querying, processing, and visualizing](/influxdb/cloud/get-started/) data with InfluxDB Cloud. Feel free to dive in deeper to each of these topics:

-   [Write data to InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/write-data/)
-   [Query data in InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/query-data/)
-   [Process data with InfluxDB](/influxdb/cloud/process-data/)
-   [Visualize data with the InfluxDB UI](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/)

#### Related

-   [Visualize data with the InfluxDB UI](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/)
-   [Visualization types](/influxdb/cloud/visualize-data/visualization-types/)
-   [Use Chronograf with InfluxDB Cloud](/influxdb/cloud/tools/chronograf/)
-   [Use Grafana with InfluxDB Cloud](/influxdb/cloud/tools/grafana/)