🌞 Day 29: Sunburst Chart in Python

 

🌞 Day 29: Sunburst Chart in Python

🔹 What is a Sunburst Chart?

A Sunburst Chart is a circular hierarchical visualization where:

• Inner rings represent parent categories

• Outer rings represent child categories

• Each segment’s size shows its proportion

Think of it as a radial treemap.

---

🔹 When Should You Use It?

Use a sunburst chart when:

• Your data is hierarchical

• You want to show part-to-whole at multiple levels

• Structure is more important than exact values

Avoid it for precise numeric comparison.

---

🔹 Example Scenario

• Company → Department → Team performance

• Website → Section → Page views

• Product → Category → Sub-category sales

---

🔹 Key Idea Behind It

👉 Center = top-level category
👉 Rings expand outward for deeper levels
👉 Angle/area represents contribution

---

🔹 Python Code (Sunburst Chart)

import plotly.express as px 
import pandas as pd 

data = pd.DataFrame({ 
 "category": ["Electronics", "Electronics", "Clothing", "Clothing"], 
"subcategory": ["Mobiles", "Laptops", "Men", "Women"],
 "value": [40, 30, 20, 10] }
)

fig = px.sunburst( 
data, path=['category', 'subcategory'], 
values='value', 
title='Sales Distribution by Category' 
) 
fig.show()

📌 Install Plotly if needed:

pip install plotly

---

🔹 Output Explanation

• Inner circle shows main categories

• Outer ring breaks them into subcategories

• Larger segments indicate higher contribution

• Interactive (hover & zoom)

---

🔹 Sunburst vs Treemap

Aspect	Sunburst	Treemap
Shape	Circular	Rectangular
Hierarchy clarity	High	Medium
Space efficiency	Medium	High
Visual appeal	High	Medium

---

🔹 Key Takeaways

• Best for hierarchical storytelling

• Interactive charts work best

• Avoid too many levels

• Great for dashboards & reports