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Square pie/Waffle chart

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Square pie/Waffle chart
This visualisation is an example of a square pie. A square is divided into 10x10 fields, and for each number, as many fields are filled in as there are percent. Consequently, the numbers remain readable by simply counting the number of fields covered by one colour. Taking a hint from squarified treemaps, the areas should also be as square as possible for better comparability.
Visual types
Level of expertise
Source:
Diagram Collection (1997) - Book. Women in IT - Squaring the Pie? - Robert Kosara, 2006: Women in IT - Squaring the Pie? - Robert Kosara, 2006 (Non-commercial)
http://eagereyes.org/Techniques/SquarePieCharts.html
Interactive features
None
Benefits & pitfalls to avoid
  • Pie charts are often criticised. Comparing the size of pie segments can be difficult, and many visualisation experts suggest that bar-charts should be used instead.
  • When using colours to portray data values or types, ensure that the colors used are accessible to all users. Online tools such as ColorBrewer (www.colorbrewer.org) can help identify issues with colours used.
Create your own
  • Pie charts can be created in a range of standard data applications such as Excel.