Treemaps are used to display hierarchical data. The information is displayed as a cluster of rectangles varying in size and color, depending on their data value. The size of each rectangle represents a quantity, while the color can represent a number value or a category. Treemaps are economical in that they can be used within a limited space and yet display a large number of items simultaneously. Treemaps allow you to view trends and make comparisons quickly.

Usage

Treemaps are one of the most compact and space-efficient options for displaying hierarchies and are also great for comparing the proportions between categories via their size. When there is a correlation between color and size in the tree structure, the user is able to see patterns that would be difficult to spot in other charts.

Use the treemap if:

• Space is limited and you want to give users an overview of a large amount of hierarchical data.
• You cannot use conventional graphs, such as bar charts, because there are too many items to represent as bars in a single graph or in a series of graphs on one screen.
• You want to offer a quick, high level summary of the similarities and anomalies within one category, as well as between multiple categories.
• You want to enable part-to-whole comparisons.
• You want to enable rough comparisons between top-level categories, as well as comparisons within categories at a lower level.

Do not use the treemap if:

• You want to enable precise quantitative comparisons. In this case, use the bar chart instead.
• The dataset contains only a small number of categories. In this case, we recommend using the bar chart.
  
• There is a big difference in the magnitude of the measure values.
• You would like to display negative values. They cannot be displayed in treemaps.

Responsiveness

Color Palette

The treemap chart supports sequential and semantic color palettes.

• Use the sequential palette to visualize high-to-low values using six shades for up to three measures.
• Use the semantic palette to show good, bad, and critical values.

Legend

The treemap chart supports both the legend and value-based legend.

• Use the legend if you are using semantic colors.
• Use the value-based legend if you are using the sequential color palette.

Drilldown

You can let users drill down through the hierarchical data. This is done by selecting a rectangle and pressing the Drill Down button in the chart toolbar.

Selection and Popover

When the user clicks on a rectangle, all the associated values are displayed in a popover. You can also customize the popover to display other information and actions.

Resources