The main use case for the sunburst chart is the visualization of hierarchies. Depending on your data, there are multiple circles and each circle represents one level of the hierarchy. The highest rank is in the centre of the circle, and the more you go outwards, the lower the rank.
Each circle is divided in different pieces. These represent the part of their parent slice above it and show the name of the category or the value of the measurement. Just like that, the sunburst chart lets you visually explore the proportions of any category, and how it relates to the whole. It allows you to see abnormalities at a glance, and thanks to the granularity, you can really drill down on that specific hierarchy you are interested in, to find out which exact parameter is causing the abnormality.
The Sunbusrt chart can be found underneath the ‘Hierarchical Charts’ section. You can add it to the editor by clicking on it or by drag and drop. When you add this chart to your dashboard, you’ll see there are two slots to add data to: Levels and Measure.
As mentioned above, the Sunburst chart is used for the visualization of hierarchies. You put these hierarchies in the Levels slot. You can add as many as you like, that is why Levels is in plural. The more levels you add, the more circles you obtain.
Let’s try this out! Suppose I want to know how many sales I had per year, per customer, and per product type. These columns will be my levels. I will add them to my Levels slot, starting with the highest rank.
It will look like this, try it out and hover over the chart!
Now suppose we want to have the size of the parts in proportion to the amount of the sales, we need to add data to the Measure slot. In this case, we are making a visual about amount of sales, so we’re going to use the amount in this slot.
This is the result:
The numbers you see by hovering over the different parts tell us more about the relationship of each part to the whole. This means that the percentages in the examples are in comparison to the 100% of the sales.
You can always change the hierarchy of your levels after you added them. Let’s say I want to know how many fish I caught per type, per year and per region. I click on the Data icon of the chart and open my levels by clicking on the gear icon. You can change the hierarchy by simple drag and drop of the levels. Just click on one and drag them up or down the list. The chart will adapt immediately!
Other hierarchical charts include the circle pack chart or tree map. Similar circular charts are the donut or pie chart.