Comparing Visualization Types for Your Data with Proportions
Nightingale Rose Chart
Nightingale Rose Chart
- This is also known as Coxcomb Chart or Polar Area Diagram
- Use: It is used to plot cyclic phenomenon with segments
- It is a combination of stacked column chart and radar chart
- The chart is similar to the pie chart, but the angles are equal and the amount in which radial regions extends from the center of the circle
- The radius of each sector is proportional to the square root of the value of the variable, so the area of each sector represents the value of the variable
- It was famously used by Florence Nightingale to represent preventable deaths, death from wounds, and death by all other causes of soldiers during the war
- The outer regions have larger area size, so they get more emphasis by the viewer. This is a con of this visualization
- Purpose Analyzing cyclic phenomenon and contribution of different factors using segments Identifying the relative effects across different periods visually * Identifying patterns if any in the cyclin phenomenon
Dot Matrix Chart
- Use: Gives a quick overview of proportions of categories in a dataset
- Dots are used in the matrix using different colors for each category
- The number of dots is proportional to the size or value of the category
- Another version of the dot matrix is where icons are used instead of dots in the matrix and they are grouped by similar color
- If a single variable is in the dataset, then dot matrix chart can be used to display proportions across different datasets
- Purpose Compare distribution proportion across different datasets A very simple view of proportions to discover patterns
Circle Packing
- It is also known as a circular tree map
- Use: Visualize hierarchic organization
- It is a variation of tree map and each node is represented by a circle and sub-nodes are represented as circles inside it
- The size of each circle is proportional to the value
- Colors are used to represent categories or groupings across or inside the hierarchy
- It is difficult for the viewer to compare exact size when it comes to circles, but it gives a very good, easy way to consume and neat representation of hierarchy and groupings
- Purpose To compare the values of a group precisely To represent organizations of groups into subgroups
Proportional Area Chart
- Use: Display proportions for quick view without using scales
- Shapes such as circles, rectangles are given area proportional to the value being represented
- It is difficult to gauge exact value because of lack of scale
- Purpose: To get a quick idea of the proportional distribution
Stacked Bar Graph
- Use: Display segments of a dataset in a bar chart and contribution of each segment to the total
- The bars in the chart represent as the whole and the segments of bars represent different parts or categories of the whole
- These graphs should be used when the sum of the values is as important as the individual contributors
- The bars of the graph can be horizontal or vertical
- Stacked bar graphs can have one category axis which describes the categories and up to two numerical axes which can be two scales for the data
- If the number of segments are very high, these charts become harder to read
- Purpose Finding relationship of each part to different categories Displaying distribution of variables in different categories * Comparing part by part role of one variable across different categories
