Intertwining Flows: The Curious Craft of Sankey Diagrams Unveiled

From the intricate web of power generation systems to the bloodstream of a city’s transportation network, Sankey diagrams stand out as a unique visual tool that elegantly expresses flows. Unlike traditional graphs, these diagrams eschew the rigid boundaries of charts and instead fluidly depict the movement of material, energy, or any form of flow through various processes or entities. At their core, Sankey diagrams are a form of flow diagram, often used to visualize complex processes or systems where the quantities of flow can be quantified. This article delves into the intricacies of Sankey chart creation and their diverse applications.

The Art of Sankey Diagrams: What They Represent

Sankey charts, in the simplest terms, are arrow diagrams that depict the quantity of flow from one process to another. The diagrams feature arrows joined by horizontal lines to indicate the flow, with the thickness of these arrows indicating the quantity of the flow. The larger the arrow, the greater the flow.

In a Sankey diagram, the process at each junction appears on the far left and far right — with all inbound arrows to the left and all outbound arrows to the right. The thickness of all flowing pathways is chosen so that any segment on a flowing line will be proportional to the quantity flowing through that segment.

This visual emphasis on the flow direction and magnitude makes Sankey diagrams particularly effective for illustrating processes where the distribution of resources is significant.

Crafting the Perfect Sankey Diagram

Creating Sankey diagrams involves the following steps:

1. Identify Flow Paths: Determine which paths make up the process flow you want to depict. For instance, in a manufacturing process, these could include processes such as raw material acquisition, production, and shipping.

2. Define Flow Quantities: Specify the quantities you want to represent. These can be physical quantities such as the volume of material sent down a pipeline or a financial quantity such as the annual revenue generated from a specific service.

3. Select a Software Tool: A plethora of software tools are available for creating Sankey diagrams, from the simple and open-source Gephi to the sophisticated and professional-like Sankey Designer and other specialized diagramming programs.

4. Design the Layout: Choose a layout where the arrows are positioned and sizes are as thick as the flows they represent. Each process segment should be connected to the next, with the arrows thinning as they connect to more processes — a concept known as “elbows.”

5. Label the Diagram: Proper labeling is crucial in conveying information clearly. Include a scale, units of measurement, a legend if necessary, and provide descriptions of the processes involved.

Applications of Sankey Diagrams

The versatility of Sankey diagrams spans a variety of fields:

1. Industrial Systems

Manufacturing processes, power plants, and other industrial systems can use Sankey diagrams to show the flow of materials, energy, or cost.

2. Environmental Studies

Environmental scientists use Sankey diagrams to visualize energy flow in ecosystems or the distribution of emissions from different sources in urban settings.

3. Engineering

Engineers leverage Sankey diagrams in both design and analysis, to illustrate the efficiency of energy systems, the flow of material within a machinery, or the movement of traffic.

4. Architecture

Sankey diagrams help architects visualize the energy requirements of a building or the distribution of traffic throughout a complex urban landscape.

5. Economic and Business Analysis

In the business and financial realms, Sankey diagrams may be utilized to depict the flow of money, information, or resources within an organization or between market segments.

Conclusion

Sankey diagrams are a testament to the power of visualization in conveying complex data in an intuitive way. Whether you’re an industrial engineer, an environmental analyst, or a business strategist, the craft of creating a Sankey diagram can illuminate the flow of work, energy, or resources within a system. The next time you find yourself lost in the maze of information, consider crafting a Sankey diagram; it just might be the key to a clearer, more efficient understanding of the system in question.

SankeyMaster

SankeyMaster is your go-to tool for creating complex Sankey charts . Easily enter data and create Sankey charts that accurately reveal intricate data relationships.