Area Plot — Behind the mountains are more mountains
in short
- Showing the rise and fall of various data series over time.
- Known as Area Charts and Area Graphs with four types Standard, Stacked, Percent Stacked and Overlapping.
- Nice viz, Emphasizing a part-to-whole relationship over time, Tell the story.
Line Plots are common, they represent the change in data over time. we all make line plots first thing in the morning. Area Plot visualizes 3D dimension using color, it’s highlighted the depth and underlines trends of the various lines or groups. Easy to understand and intuitive as the Music industry plot below —
Telling multiple stories at once:
- Rise and fall of Cassete.
- Rise and fall of CD’s
- Rise and fall and rise of Vinyl
- Rise and fall of Ringtones (Yeah we used to pay for them)
- Rise and fall of 8-track tape (What??)
- Rise and fall and Downloads
- Rise of Streaming
Choosing the right Area Plot: Standard, Stacked, Percent Stacked, or Overlapping.
# Standard: evolution over time. similar to the line chart more emphasis on the trend contrast to the exact values.
# Stacked: several area charts stacked on top of one another. Comparing multiple variable contributions.
#Percent Stacked: Area represent the percentage of each part. great for Part-to-whole over time analysis.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/31/business/20080801-metrics-graphic.html
Date of Publication: July 31, 2009
Authors: Amanda Cox, Amy Schoenfeld, Kevin Quealy, and Shan Carter
Overlapping: A good comparison between trends.
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