Danyel Fisher of Microsoft writes:
So you’ve got a spreadsheet with hierarchical data. Something like this, say, which shows how different divisions of XYZ corp are doing at sprocket,
widget, and screw sales:
Unfortunately, it’s kind of hard to read this. How much overhead is in Sprockets but not in one of the subdivisions? Where are the trouble spots?
This is, of course, where data visualization comes in.
This draws regions’ size as the number of employees, and the color linked to profit or loss.
And now, you can just click one button in Excel to get it. More
For an example of a map of the stock market with this approach, see SmartMoney’s MarketMap.
