Seeing the Big Picture with Treemaps

Our new Treemap chart is here, adding more ways for you to visualize and explore your data! A treemap chart is perfect for displaying hierarchical data using nested rectangles, each representing a category within a larger dataset. The size and color of these rectangles can vary, allowing for clear visual distinctions and easy analysis. Treemaps make it intuitive to see which segments are significant and how they relate to the whole.

Typical Use Cases:

• Sales Performance in Retail: Visualize product categories, their contribution to total sales, and identify the best-performing segments at a glance.
• Marketing Campaign Analysis: Compare different campaigns by spending levels, audience reach, or performance metrics to determine where your resources are being effectively utilized.
• Resource & Budget Allocation: Easily spot inefficiencies in project management or budget allocation by visualizing different resource group contributions.

https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-pound-o-gram/

• Customer Segmentation: Dive into customer demographics to uncover which segments have the highest revenue, ensuring your strategies are targeted where it matters most.
• Market Sizing: Understand the size of various markets and financial segments, providing a clear overview of how different sectors contribute to overall business performance.

Treemaps are a powerful tool for storytelling with data—highlighting proportions, revealing outliers, and displaying your data in a compelling way. It’s a simple yet effective way to understand what’s beneath the surface of your information.

When Not to Use a Treemap

While treemaps are versatile, they’re not always the best option. If you have an uneven distribution of data or too many categories, the visualization can become cluttered and difficult to interpret. In such cases, simpler charts like bar or line graphs might be more effective.

Common Mistakes to Watch Out For

• Overcrowding: Including too many categories can lead to a confusing and cluttered treemap. Stick to essential categories to keep your visualization clear and impactful. Focus on key segments to maintain clarity.

• Color Confusion: Avoid inconsistent or random coloring. A well-thought-out color scheme helps maintain visual coherence and makes the data easier to understand.

Where does the Treemap concept come from?

Treemaps were first designed by Ben Shneiderman in the 1990s (read the full paper here). His goal was to manage the file systems in his computer—visualizing a lot of data in a compact space. Today, treemaps have grown to be one of the go-to visualizations for understanding parts of a whole, taking complex datasets and transforming them into something everyone can understand.

Ben Shneiderman with one of his treemaps. Source: WordPress

Try a treemap today

Treemaps transform numbers into visually intuitive stories, making complex data easy to analyze. Whenever you find yourself overwhelmed with information, consider a Treemap to simplify and tidy things up.

Treemaps take hierarchical data and make it accessible—spotting trends, understanding proportions, and supporting informed decisions. They are a must-have in the data visualization toolbox, versatile enough for business intelligence, education, and beyond. Whether you need to manage large datasets or create clear presentations, Treemaps help uncover insights at a glance.

With Treemaps, you’re not just presenting numbers; you’re crafting a narrative about how different values interact within the bigger picture. It’s about making data visually engaging and simple to explore.