Take a look at the innovation heat map published by McKinsey (link to article)
I call this the “un-innovative heat map on innovation” for obvious reasons.
First let me fill you on what the chart is trying to show. Folks at McK got curious to know how innovation around the world is and partnered with World Economic Forum to create this heat map. The map shows innovation clusters (sized based on the number of patents won) on 2 dimensions – Diversity (how many companies & patent sectors are in the cluster) and Momentum (growth rate of patents). If you are wondering what a cluster is, it is a city.
Confused?
Well, Mckinsey folks are always keen to plot anything including your cat on two dimensions. So they created a gazillion bubbles and plotted them on 2 axes and conveniently sliced the area in to 9 parts and named them like hot springs, shrinking pools, molten lava (well, not really, but the first two are true, I swear!!!)
One of the primary shortfalls of this heat map is, it takes innovation clusters (cities) that already have geographical co-ordinates and plots them in a way that is unreadable.
How could they have improved this heat map?
Instead of plotting the bubbles on 2 dimensions like diversity and momentum, they should have used simple google maps API or Many eyes world map visualization and colored the bubbles based on whether the cluster is in a hot spring or a stinking ooops, shrinking pool. That would have improved the effectiveness of this heat map so much more. Hey, it also helps you locate your state or city easily.
Your comments on this heat map – Hot or not?
Previously on infographic inspiration: Bubble Chart Fail, Bubble Chart Success, Kiss and Impress, More visualization inspiration
14 Responses to “Group Smaller Slices in Pie Charts to Improve Readability”
I think the virtue of pie charts is precisely that they are difficult to decode. In many contexts, you have to release information but you don't want the relationship between values to jump at your reader. That's when pie charts are most useful.
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Chandoo,
millions of ants cannot be mistaken.....There should be a reason why everybody continues using Pie charts, despite what gurus like you or Jon and others say.
one reason could be because we are just used to, so that's what we need to change, the "comfort zone"...
i absolutely agree, since I've been "converted", I just find out that bar charts are clearer, and nicer to the view...
Regards,
Martin
[...] says we can Group Smaller Slices in Pie Charts to Improve Readability. Such a pie has too many labels to fit into a tight space, so you need ro move the labels around [...]
Chandoo -
You ask "Can I use an alternative to pie chart?"
I answer in You Say “Pie”, I Say “Bar”.
This visualization was created because it was easy to print before computers. In this day and age, it should not exist.
I think the 100% Bar Chart is just as useless/unreadable as Pies - we should rename them something like Mama's Strudel Charts - how big a slice would you like, Dear?
My money's with Jon on this topic.
The primary function of any pie chart with more than 2 or 3 data points is to obfuscate. But maybe that is the main purpose, as @Jerome suggests...
@Jerome.. Good point. Also sometimes, there is just no relationship at all.
@Martin... Organized religion is finding it tough to get converts even after 2000+ years of struggle. Jon, Stephen, countless others (and me) are a small army, it would take atleast 5000 more years before pie charts vanish... patience and good to have you here 🙂
@Jon .. very well done sir, very well done.
good points every one...
I've got to throw my vote into Jon's camp (which is also Stephen Few's camp) -- bars just tend to work better. One observation about when we say "what people are used to." There are two distinct groups here (depending on the situation, a person can fall in either one): the person who *creates* the chart and the person who *consumes* the chart. Granted, the consumers are "used to" pie charts. But, it's not like a bar chart is something they would struggle to understand or that would require explanation (like sparklines and bullet graphs). Chart consumers are "used to" consuming whatever is put in front of them. Chart creators, on the other hand, may be "used to" creating pie charts, but that isn't an excuse for them to continue to do so -- many people are used to driving without a seatbelt, leaving lights on in their house needlessly, and forwarding not-all-that-funny anecdotes via email. That doesn't mean the practice shouldn't be discouraged!
[...] example that Chandoo used recently is counting uses of words. Clearly, there are other meanings of “bar” (take bar mitzvah or bar none, for [...]
[…] Grouping smaller slices in pie chart […]
Good article. Is it possible to do that with line charts?
Hi,
Is this available in excel 2013?