How we display data is essential because your audience needs to capture the insights you communicate. You focus on how we can display hierarchical data so that the audience benefits from your presentation.
The reason why this is important for you is that you can easily perceive high-to-low or low-to-high information.
Your goal is to persuade your audience why your information follows a specific hierarchy. It might be a biological or historical topic.
This is where a Sunburst Chart in Excel can help you.
Why?
This chart is easy to read and interpret hierarchical data. It is vital that you give it a try for your data story.
In this blog, you will understand more about the Sunburst Chart in Excel and how to create one.
Let’s get down to business and define a Sunburst Chart.
Definition: A Sunburst Chart is a diagram that displays hierarchical data using concentric rings.
A Sunburst Chart is known by other names such as Radial Treemap, Sunburst Partition Chart, and Ring Chart.
A Sunburst Chart has several circular rings corresponding to a hierarchical level of data points. In addition, each ring is divided into several segments that represent each variable.
The concentric ring segments indicate a part-to-whole data point related to its parent ring. A Sunburst Chart in Excel with various categories shows a relationship between the inner rings and outer rings.
A Sunburst Chart and a Treemap have a similar role in showing hierarchical insights into your data.
At which point is the difference in their use?
A Sunburst Chart is ideal for showing part-to-whole insights into your data story. On the other hand, a Treemap is suitable for comparing various data sets.
A Sunburst Chart utilizes a radial layout to enhance a remarkable data visualization experience. Your target audience can easily identify hierarchical data insights from your data presentation.
A Treemap Chart utilizes a rectangular layout to display hierarchical data. With this layout, it becomes less significant to obtain sequential insights from your data story.
Let’s look at its components in learning more about the incredible Sunburst Chart.
As we have discussed, a Sunburst Chart is composed of an inner circle surrounded by outer rings with deeper hierarchy levels.
Each ring segment angle is divided equally or proportional to its parent node. You can give it different colors in each segment, which will help your target audience differentiate each component.
Some of the components of a Sunburst Chart in Excel include:
The paths shorter than the maximum depth indicate that you must fill them with missing values.
The question is, how do we create a Sunburst Diagram in Excel? Let’s see how it is done.
ChartExpo is an Excel third-party add-in that many professionals use to access visualizations such as the Sunburst Chart.
ChartExpo helps you access a Sunburst chart Excel template to label and color your charts and graphs. It is the most suitable Sunburst Chart generator for your Excel because it has a user-friendly interface.
This section will use a practical example to deepen your understanding of how to make a Sunburst Chart in Excel.
Assume you own multiple mobile shops across the country. You aim to identify the phone brands that significantly contribute to your sales revenue.
Which chart can you use to visualize such data?
You guessed right. The Sunburst Diagram in Excel is your best pick. You can use an example of the data below to show your business mobile sales across the country.
| Orders | States | Cities | Total Orders |
| Orders | California | Fresno | 450 |
| Orders | California | Irvine | 524 |
| Orders | California | Malibu | 551 |
| Orders | Texas | Austin | 565 |
| Orders | Texas | Dallas | 445 |
| Orders | Texas | Plano | 454 |
| Orders | Florida | Miami | 522 |
| Orders | Florida | Tampa | 463 |
| Orders | Florida | Naples | 521 |
To get started with ChartExpo in Excel, follow the steps below:
Your final chart will appear as shown below.
As you move down the hierarchical levels of a Treemap Chart, the space where you can plot your data continues to decrease.
This limitation in a Treemap decreases the number of hierarchical levels you can display. In addition, as you delve deeper into the categories, it becomes less easy to read. Therefore, a Treemap is unsuitable if you deal with bulky data, including part-to-whole patterns.
In contrast, a Sunburst Chart helps you access more space as you move down the hierarchical levels. If your issue differs from the space available, you can adjust the Sunburst Chart to show the complete visualization of various layers.
A Sunburst Chart advantage can be realized if you know how to use a Sunburst Chart.
A Sunburst Chart is easy to read. Why? Because it resembles a Pie Chart, which is familiar to most people in your target audience.
The radial characteristic of a Sunburst Visualization space effectively. This makes it more effective in displaying hierarchical data.
You can easily obtain sequential insights from a Sunburst Chart.
There are various applications where you can use a Sunburst Diagram in Excel. They include:
You can use a Sunburst Chart in Excel to obtain hierarchical insights when dealing with massive data amounts.
When you use a Sunburst Chart in Excel, it is essential that you strategically use color and size. This strategy can help you reveal hidden insights that can be challenging to identify using other chart types.
The Sunburst Chart in Excel is circular. The chart’s nodes can have various sub-nodes. Every node in the Sunburst Chart has a different color and is arc sized to correspond with your vital data points.
With a Sunburst Chart in Excel, you have every freedom to indicate the number of levels you want to display simultaneously.
The Sunburst Diagram displays hierarchical insights from your data story. The chart has circular rings that represent every hierarchical level.
The innermost circular ring in the Sunburst Diagram is the highest level of your data, while the outermost circle is the lowest level.
You can create a Sunburst Chart in Excel by supercharging it with a third-party add-in called ChartExpo.
With ChartExpo in your Excel application, you can access a Sunburst Chart using simple steps. Enter your data in your Excel and allow the ChartExpo add-in to do the rest.
In a nutshell, displaying hierarchical data is one of the simplest ways to obtain sequential insights.
We have learned that the best visualization for this job is the Sunburst Chart in Excel.
We have compared the Sunburst Chart with other hierarchical visualizations, such as the Treemap. We have realized that the Sunburst Chart has many advantages, such as space and an easy-to-read chart.
Many experts would go for the Sunburst Chart because their target audience would readily understand its insights.
We have realized the existence of a third-party add-in tool called ChartExpo. It has significantly helped you to visualize your data using a Sunburst Chart.
All of the simple steps were only possible with ChartExpo. With this Excel add-in, you can access the Sunburst Chart and many other remarkable charts and graphs.
The good news is you can access the benefits of ChartExpo too. Now it’s your turn to try it out. Start a 7-day free trial to access the Sunburst Chart and visualize your hierarchical data story.
How much did you enjoy this article?
Learn how to get the most out of an exit survey questions with ChartExpo. We will teach you how to take that data and display it in an appealing visual.
This guide introduces you to the top 10 data visualization techniques. Click to learn how to create insightful charts and graphs in Excel with examples.
What is Data Analytics? What is Business Analytics? Click to learn about the differences and types of Business Analytics vs. Data Analytics.
