Sankey diagrams have become a popular tool for visualizing the flow of data, such as materials, money, or information. They are particularly useful when you have multiple source and destination networks, and you want to illustrate the relationships between them. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to create Sankey diagrams, as well as some of their applications in different fields.
Creating a Sankey diagram is a simple process, and anyone can do it. All you need is a visualization library that supports Sankey analysis, such as the Python library ggraph or the Java library org.javatuples. Once you’ve got your library, you can start by defining the source and destination nodes in your network, and then connecting them with edges that correspond to the flow. For example, if you have a network of data on food production, you might have nodes for different crops and nutrients, and edges representing the production and consumption of those nutrients at each node. In that case, you might connect nodes for different nutrient sources and connections between sources and destinations with lines.
Once you’ve defined your network and connected the nodes and edges, you can generate your Sankey diagram. There are several ways to do this, but one popular method is to specify the flow rates and flow directions for each edge separately, and to visualize it all on a single diagram. For example, if you have an edge connecting crops A to crops B with a flow rate of 20 units per day, and another edge connecting crops B to crops C with a flow rate of 30 units per day, you can create a diagram that shows the flow between each pair of crops. You can then adjust the scale and colors as needed to zoom in on specific patterns or trends.
Sankey diagrams are particularly useful when you want to visualize the flow of data that is difficult to visualize with other types of charts. For example, you might use a Sankey diagram to show the flow of money through a company’s supply chain, or to visualize the flow of information between different departments in an organization. They can be especially useful when you need to show the complex relationships between nodes and their flows, without getting bogged down in the details of the data.
One of the strengths of Sankey diagrams is that they are flexible and can be adapted to a wide range of applications. For example, you can use them to visualize the flow of data in different industries, such as energy, transportation, and finance. They are also useful for showing the flow of information between different people or organizations, or for visualizing the flow of resources and materials in systems with a lot of complexity. And they can be used to show the flow of data in a wide variety of settings, from scientific research to government policy.
Overall, Sankey diagrams are a powerful tool for visualizing complex data and relationships. By using a visualization library and specifying the flow rates and flow directions for each edge, you can create a rich, detailed diagram that can help you identify patterns and relationships in your data. With a little practice and experimentation, you can use Sankey diagrams to unlock the hidden patterns and relationships that are hidden in your data.

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