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Sankey

Sankey diagrams are diagrams used to visualize the flow of matter, energy, or information, and they are especially useful for showing the flow relationship between different components in a system. Sankey diagrams are composed of elements such as nodes, connecting lines, flow, text labels, and a legend, which help readers understand and analyze flow relationships. Sankey diagrams are widely used in various fields such as energy, environment, economics, and transportation to display flow information.

Application scenario​

  • Business: to visualize the flow of products, services, and money within a company, and to identify potential areas for improvement.
  • Energy: to represent the flow of energy in a system, such as the energy consumption and production of a power plant.
  • Environment: to display the flow of waste and resources in a region or community, and to identify opportunities for reducing waste and increasing resource efficiency.
  • Economics: to display the flow of goods, services, and money in an economy, and to understand how different components of an economy are interconnected.
  • Transportation: to visualize the flow of passengers and goods in a transportation system, and to identify opportunities for improving transportation efficiency.
  • Supply Chain: to represent the flow of materials, information, and money in a supply chain, and to identify opportunities for improving supply chain performance.

Composition​

  1. Nodes: represent the starting and ending points of flow, usually represented as a band with unequal widths.
  2. Connecting lines: represent the flow direction, used to connect two nodes, and the width of the connecting lines represents the flow size.
  3. Flow: represents the flow of matter, energy, or information, usually expressed in quantity or proportion.
  4. Text labels: represent explanations for nodes or flow, used to explain the meaning and quantity of flow.
  5. Legend: used to explain the meaning of flow colors and line thickness, etc., helping readers better understand the information in the Sankey diagram.

Example​

Data flow direction and size between two dimensions.

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Data flow direction and size among three dimensions.

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