Treemap Chart

Treemapping is a data visualization technique that is used to display hierarchical data using nested rectangles; the treemap chart is created based on this technique of data visualization.

The treemap chart is used for representing hierarchical data in a tree-like structure. Data, organized as branches and sub-branches, is represented using rectangles, the dimensions and plot colors of which are calculated w.r.t the quantitative variables associated with each rectangle—each rectangle represents two numerical values.

You can theoretically drill down within the data to an unlimited number of levels all by using an Excel treemap chart. This makes distinguishing between categories and data values easy at a glance. However, with the lack of knowledge and time, it can become a little tiring process.

This is where you will require the assistance of tools like Fusioncharts to streamline the process hassle-free. With a easy to use interface, you can easily create stunning treemaps with custom colors, labels, and tooltips.

This seamless integration simplifies data visualization in Excel, allowing you to communicate complex relationships clearly and effectively. So, let’s move forward and learn more about it.

What is an Excel Treemap chart?

An excel treemap chart is a visualization tool that displays data in a hierarchical structure represented by nested rectangles. Each rectangle's size corresponds to the data values it represents, making it easy to visualize each category or sub-category's relative and absolute size within the dataset.

Treemap graph are handy for analyzing and comparing proportions within large datasets, allowing users to identify patterns, outliers, and trends quickly. Excel's Treemap chart feature provides a user-friendly way to create and customize these visualizations, making them accessible to many users for data analysis and presentation purposes.

A simple example to understand the above mentioned definition better. Take a look at the treemap chart sample shown below:

The treemap chart above shows the category-wise sales figures for popular motorbike models. Each rectangle showcases two quantitative variables: the average sales for a model—represented by the dimensions of the rectangle—and the percentage growth in the sales of a model compared to the previous year—represented by the color of the rectangle.

Below are a couple of deductions that you can easily make from the above excel treemap chart:

• Although Harley-Davidson XG500 sold less no. of units than Honda NBC110 this year, the former’s growth in sales from last year is far better than the latter.
• The Honda NBC110 is the only Honda-manufactured motorbike to see a decent growth in its sales. That said, charting facilitates the desired analysis only when data is visualized on the right type of chart—if you’ve worked with data visualization extensively, you’d know that this varies not just basis your data, but also basis the kind of analysis you want to facilitate.

Read on to know the best situations in which you can use your treemap chart to utmost advantage.

Advantages of a Treemap Chart:

Here are a few of the top advantages of an excel treemap chart:

Clear Part-to-Whole Representation

Treemap charts illustrate the relationship between individual components and the overall dataset. By using nested rectangles, viewers can easily discern the size and contribution of each segment to the entirety. This clarity allows stakeholders to identify significant contributors quickly and understand data distribution without ambiguity.

Insightful Visualization Without Clutter

Treemap graph maintain clarity and coherence despite the potential complexity of hierarchical data structures. Organizing information into hierarchical rectangles minimizes clutter, ensuring insights remain readily accessible. This streamlined presentation fosters a focused analysis, allowing viewers to extract valuable insights without being overwhelmed by unnecessary details.

Straightforward Interpretation

These charts are designed for simplicity, enabling straightforward interpretation even for those unfamiliar with data visualization techniques. The intuitive layout and clear visual cues make it easy for viewers to grasp the relative proportions of each component within the dataset. This simplicity facilitates efficient decision-making and communication of findings without extensive training or explanation.

Efficient Communication of Insights

Treemap charts are powerful tools for concisely and engagingly conveying complex insights. These charts encourage exploration and understanding by condensing intricate hierarchical data into visually appealing rectangles. This efficient communication of insights enables stakeholders to glean valuable information quickly, facilitating informed decision-making and strategy development.

Efficient Representation of Hierarchical Data

These charts efficiently handle hierarchical data structures, providing a visually compelling representation of the relative proportions of each segment. Using nested rectangles, the treemap graph effectively conveys the hierarchical relationships within the dataset, allowing viewers to comprehend the data hierarchy at a glance.

Versatility in Data Types

One of the key strengths of Treemap lies in its versatility across various data types. Whether financial data, geographical information, or product metrics, Treemap graph can effectively visualize diverse datasets. This adaptability makes them valuable tools for various visualization projects, regardless of the data's nature or complexity.

Interactivity for Detailed Exploration

Radial treemaps offer interactive features that enable users to dig deeper into the data for more detailed analysis. These charts facilitate in-depth exploration and understanding of the dataset by enabling users to drill down into specific segments. This interactivity empowers users to uncover valuable insights and trends that may take time to be apparent from the initial visualization.

Creation of Interactive Dashboards

These charts can be leveraged to create interactive dashboards that provide users with dynamic and customizable data views. By incorporating interactive elements such as filters and tooltips, these dashboards enable users to interact with the data in real time, facilitating data-driven decision-making and exploration. This ability to create engaging and interactive dashboards enhances the utility of Treemap charts in various applications, from business analytics to data exploration.

Limitations of Treemap Chart

While Treemap charts can be effective in many scenarios, there are certain limitations that users should be aware of:

Difficult To Generate

Treemaps can be more challenging to generate than other chart types, especially for users unfamiliar with data visualization techniques.

Values Must be Positive

Treemap charts represent hierarchical data using rectangles, where each rectangle's size reflects a value. However, they're most effective when all values are positive; negative or zero values can distort the visualization or cause misinterpretation.

Does Not Display Hierarchical Levels Seamlessly

Excel treemap chart broadly visualizes hierarchical data but struggles with deep or complex hierarchies. As hierarchy depth increases, readability decreases, making accurate interpretation challenging.

How to make a Treemap chart in Excel

Creating a Treemap chart in Excel can be a powerful way to visualize hierarchical data clearly and intuitively. With the help of fusioncharts one can simplify the whole treemap creation with customizable templates and an intuitive interface. Users can easily input data, customize designs, and access advanced features like drill-down capabilities. Follow these easy steps to make your own excel treemap chart:

Step 1: Select the Data That You Want to Display

Before creating a Treemap graph/chart, you must have the data you want to visualize. This typically involves hierarchical data, such as categories, subcategories, and corresponding values. Ensure that your data is organized in a clear and structured format, creating an effective Treemap chart easier.

Step 2: Go to Insert Tab & Click Waterfall Funnel, Stock, or Treemap Button

Once your data is selected, navigate to the Insert tab in Excel. Here, you'll find a variety of chart options. Depending on your Excel version, look for the button labeled Waterfall, Funnel, Stock, or Treemap. Click on this button to access the chart options.

Step 3: Pick the Excel Treemap Chart Type

After clicking the appropriate button, you'll see a dropdown menu with different chart types. Select the excel treemap chart option from the menu to proceed. Excel will then generate a basic Treemap chart based on your selected data.

Step 4: Your Treemap Graph Is Ready

Once you've selected the Treemap chart type, Excel will automatically create a Treemap chart using your data. The chart will display hierarchical rectangles, with each rectangle representing a category or subcategory and its size corresponding to the data values. You can customize the chart by adjusting colors, labels, and other formatting options to enhance readability and visual appeal.

FusionCharts is also an excellent tool to create a visually appealing excel treemap chart. It offers additional customization options to enhance visual appeal. Users can implement a time navigator feature to track data trends over time. It ensures responsive design, adapting seamlessly to various screen sizes. Moreover, it provides diverse installation options, including direct JavaScript, CDN, and NPM, catering to developers' preferences and project requirements.

When should I create an Excel Treemap chart?

When confused about how to display an array of categories in a single chart Treemap graph is considered one of the best options. Here are a few moments where treemap works the best. Let’s dive into it one by one:

Large Dataset

Excel treemap chart exceeds at visualizing large datasets with numerous categories and subcategories. When dealing with extensive data, a Treemap chart offers a concise and organized representation, allowing viewers to grasp the relative proportions of each category quickly. Treemaps efficiently communicate complex information without overwhelming the audience by condensing vast amounts of data into hierarchical rectangles.

Data Comparisons

When you need to compare the sizes or contributions of different categories within your dataset, a Treemap chart is highly effective. The hierarchical layout of Treemaps facilitates straightforward comparisons between categories and subcategories. Whether you're analyzing sales figures, budget allocations, or market share, Treemap charts enable viewers to quickly identify trends, patterns, and disparities across the data.

Hierarchical Structure

These charts are particularly suitable for visualizing data with a hierarchical structure. If your data is organized into hierarchical categories, subcategories, and further subdivisions, a Treemap graph clearly and intuitively represents this structure. By visually depicting the nested relationships between categories, Treemaps help viewers understand the hierarchy and organization of the data, making it easier to identify relationships and dependencies.

Visually Appealing

If your objective is to create a visually appealing visualization that effectively communicates insights, a Treemap chart is an excellent choice. Treemap charts capture attention and enhance comprehension with vibrant colors and geometric shapes. Whether you're presenting findings in a report, presentation, or dashboard, Treemaps offer a visually engaging way to convey information. By leveraging the aesthetic appeal of Treemaps, you can improve the visual influence of your data and improve audience engagement.

Ideal use cases for a treemap chart

Like every chart type and data visualization technique, the treemap charts works well only if it is used in situations that justify its use. Let’s take a look at what are the ideal use cases that warrant the use of a treemap chart:

Your data needs to be studied w.r.t two quantitative values. Each rectangle (node) in the treemap graph showcases the values for two quantitative values. Like said above, the dimensions of the rectangles in the sample treemap chart (above) represent the units sold for a model in the current year and the color represents the growth in sales w.r.t the previous year sales.

You have a very large amount of hierarchical data and a space constraint. Treemap charts are equipped to be able to plot more than tens of thousands of data points. There are other charts that can be used for plotting hierarchical data; some of the charts that may quickly come to mind are the multi-level pie chart and the drag-node chart. However, these charts present a space constraint as the number of data points increases beyond a certain limit. Additionally, the multi-level pie chart is circular while the treemap is linear; a linear chart is easier to read and understand than a circular one.

Your data can be organized at multiple levels. FusionCharts' treemap supports drill-down functionality, allowing users to delve into detailed data at various granularities. This feature enhances data exploration and analysis, enabling users to uncover insights effectively.

You want a quick, high level summary of the similarities and anomalies within one category as well as between multiple categories. The dimensions and colors of the rectangles (nodes) in a treemap graph are configured based on the numerical values assigned to each node. This makes it easy to identify the trends and patterns between the nodes of all the categories plotted on the chart as well between the nodes of a single category. For example, Honda-manufactured bikes have done better in the Street category than in any other category.

You need a quick summary of similarities and anomalies within and between categories. FusionCharts' treemap uses dimensions and colors to represent numerical values, facilitating the identification of trends and patterns within and across categories. For example, analyzing sales performance across different product categories or regions can be efficiently done using FusionCharts' treemap.

Overcoming Challenges With Excel Treemap Charts

• Time-consuming setup: Creating treemap graph in Excel often requires manual effort and intricate setup, consuming valuable time and resources.
• Limited customization options: Another disadvantage of this type of chart is limited customization options, restricting users' ability to tailor the chart to their needs.
• Complexity in data visualization: It is complex to interpret, especially when dealing with large datasets or hierarchical data structures.
• Lack of interactive features: Excel treemap charts may need more interactive features such as drill-down capabilities or interactive exploration, limiting users' ability to dynamically explore and analyze their data.
• Difficulty handling large datasets: Excel treemap chart may need help handling large datasets efficiently, leading to performance issues and potential data visualization challenges.

FusionCharts is a brilliant solution for tackling the above-mentioned challenges. It simplifies excel treemap chart creation with a user-friendly interface and extensive customization options. Its intuitive design and interactive features, like drill-down capabilities, enhance data visualization. With robust architecture, FusionCharts efficiently handles large datasets, ensuring smooth performance.

The Power of FusionCharts for Treemap Charts

FusionCharts revolutionizes Excel treemap chart creation by addressing user needs and simplifying the process through various features:

• Ease of Use: FusionCharts provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies the chart creation process, allowing users to generate treemap charts effortlessly.
• Pre-built Templates: With FusionCharts, users have access to a broad range of templates, enabling them to quickly choose the design that best suits their needs and customize it as desired.
• Advanced Customization Options: FusionCharts offers advanced customization options, enabling users to tailor every feature of their treemap charts, from colors and fonts to labels and tooltips, to meet their specific requirements.
• Seamless Data Integration: FusionCharts integrates with various data sources, enabling users to import data from Excel, CSV files, databases, and more, ensuring that their treemap charts are always up-to-date with the latest information.
• Interactive Features: FusionCharts' treemap charts feature features such as drill-down capabilities, tooltips, and hover effects, enhancing data exploration and analysis.

The Best Tool to Create Treemap Charts

FusionCharts is a dynamic JavaScript-based tool designed for charting and data visualization. It excels at extracting raw data from various databases and translating it into actionable insights. Offering over 150 chart types and 2000 Treemap graph variations, FusionCharts presents an extensive selection of live templates for crafting mobile or web-based dashboards.

One of its key strengths is its persistent integration with various JavaScript frameworks and server-side programming languages. This feature-rich compatibility makes FusionCharts ideal for mobile and web developers seeking robust visualization solutions to enhance their projects' data representation capabilities.

Why should you choose Fusioncharts to Create an Treemap chart?

1. Extensive customization options for tailored treemap charts.
2. Smooth handling of large and complex datasets.
3. Interactive elements like drill-downs and tooltips enhance user experience.
4. Seamless integration with various platforms and frameworks.
5. Comprehensive support and resources for effective implementation.

Features of FusionCharts

• Powerful Time-Series Charts: Seamlessly plot millions of data points with a dynamic time navigator.
• Effortless Dashboard Export: Export dashboards as PDFs or send reports via email with FusionExport.
• Cross-Browser Compatibility: Responsive charts adapt to all browsers, including IE6 and devices.
• Extensive Chart Library: Access 100+ charts and 2000+ maps for versatile data visualization.
• Flexible Installation Options: Choose from JavaScript, CDN, or NPM integration.
• Personalized Support: Reach out via forums, email, or live chat for tailored assistance.

Transform your data into a compelling visual Treemap graph – experience the best service with FusionCharts now!

More examples of a treemap chart

The treemap chart shown below showcases region-wise literacy rates and population based on the data collected for a period of one year. The size of each rectangle represents the population, the color represents the literacy rate.

Limitations of a treemap chart

The treemap chart poses the following limitations:

• You cannot display data that varies in magnitude.
• Out of the two quantitative variables that a rectangle represents, the variable standing for the size of the rectangle cannot have a negative value.
• One of the values that a rectangle stands for is to be gauged from the area of the rectangle; this is a slight difficulty when compared to other charts where you can gauge values from the length of the data plot.
• The rectangles are automatically ordered by area within the parent node; the chart does not provide for any more sorting options.
• Treemaps having a large number of data points on a single level are unsuitable for print.

Treemap charts need a significant amount of effort when you are creating one. But once you’ve figured them out, there aren’t many charts that can pack as much a punch as these charts for showcasing hierarchical data.

Discover dynamic treemap charts today!

Treemap graph/charts provide a versatile and effective means of visualizing hierarchical data structures. They can represent complex datasets clearly and concisely, empowering users to gain helpful information and make informed decisions.

By leveraging FusionCharts, users can explore the full potential of treemap charts, benefiting from extensive customization options, seamless integration, and dedicated support. Elevate your data visualization capabilities today with FusionCharts and unlock a world of insightful analysis and presentation possibilities.

Explore FusionCharts today and revolutionize your data visualization with powerful treemap charts!

This was a quick guide on the dos and don’ts of using treemap charts. You can see more sample implementations of this chart here.