Datashader isn't really meant to be used by itself. Take a look at this holoviews example [1] for a better implementation. That said, I did find the API to ha

Datashader isn't really meant to be used by itself. Take a look at this holoviews example [1] for a better implementation. That said, I did find the API to have some sharp edges and a few missing features. And there is something to be said for simple syntax. But datashader / holoviews might be a good reference for where you want to go. [1] http://holoviews.org/user_guide/Large_Data.html http://holoviews.org/user_guide/Large_Data.html