Definition
Circle Packing is a visualization to show hierarchical data using nested circles. It is just like a treemap but uses circles instead of rectangles. Every circle represents a category, and their sub-categories are within it. The greater the size of the circle, the greater will be the value of that category and vice versa.
Why do you need it?
Using a circle packing, we can show hierarchical data in a better way, then a treemap could. It looks more attractive and easy to understand. On the other hand, it’s also true that this packing takes more space as compared to the treemap.
What kind of data you can visualize with it?
It is best suited for categorical-data with one or two measures. If you have a dataset with categories of different ship modes like first class, second class, standard class, and their size of profit respectively, then circle packing is an alternative. It will display which category represents higher profit, as the area of the circle indicating that category will be maximum.
Category
- Comparison